Tales of the Humming Skunk: Part 2

Dedicated to Richard Campbell

My Inspiration

About 30 or so years ago, my father in law, Richard Forrest Campbell, started The Tales of the Humming skunk somewhat unintentionally. It all started one fine afternoon in the smoky mountains of North Carolina where my father in law found a great deal of inspiration. My husband and I, as well as his brothers and their wives, had just arrived at their beautiful cabin. My father in law, which most people called Dick but I could never bring myself to call him that, had concocted a great big fun plan for us when we arrived. He was a little tricky like that which you would think would make all of us a bit less gullible but…. As we drove up the long steep driveway, he was washing Opus the dog and right after we parked the cars and got out to say our hellos, he told us the story of the unfortunate encounter between Opus and the hummingskunk. Now all of us are college educated, some with advanced degrees so we should know better than to believe a story about a creature called a humming skunk but he had us hook, line and sinker. 

The humming skunk, according to my father in law, moved quickly and was somewhat illusive like a hummingbird but with the spray and the stench of a skunk. Opus had gotten sprayed several times and now my poor father in law had to wash the dog to clear the stench which he made sure he was doing right as we pulled up to the cabin. The stories of the humming skunk kept coming that night at dinner and afterwards all in preparation for our big hike through the mountains the next day.  Early the next morning, we headed out on our hike with extensive warnings about how to avoid the spray of the foreboding humming skunk. Every turn through the woods came with a watch out, I think I just saw one followed by a jump from me and my sisters in law–Karen and Kelly. Finally, my brother in law, Sean who is a doctor and very logical, screamed out to us that we were all far too intelligent to be falling for this crap. My father in law accused Sean of always ruining the fun-which to be fair is kinda true (just ask his daughters what he said when they watched Disney’s Pocahontas together). Karen, Kelly, and I looked at each other with a sudden awareness that we had been duped. Apparently the boys, having grown up with their Dad’s antics did not believe the story but had been told to go along. My husband, Tyler, and my brother in law, Christopher, would never ruin the silliness but Sean could not stand watching it and had to come clean. 

My father in law loved to tell stories. When I watch movies like “A Christmas Story” with such a robust and endearing narrator, I always think of him. And while he loved to tell stories to the family, in retirement he decided he just might want to tell stories semi-professionally so he started writing for the local Sylva, NC newspaper and you will never guess what the name of the column was? You guessed it–The Tales of the Hummingskunk. My father in law, who I called Ompa because that is what the grands called him and like I said I could not call him Dick, encouraged me to tell stories too.

My daughter Christa with Ompa at the cabin in North Carolina.

When I was younger and was sending in letters to the editor, they were tinged with a bit of anger at the world over a variety of issues. He encouraged me to write with humor and vulnerability, not anger–he said the world already has plenty of that. He passed away July 9, 2012 at home. I was there when he passed, which I count as a blessing. After the funeral home took him away, I went for a walk on the beach with my mother in law and we saw the flash of green as the sun set which he always loved to talk about. He was our cheerleader and my life is infinitely better because of him. So as I officially begin one of my many soon to be retired projects, I think naming some of funny life stories after his seems like a great idea. I know he is smiling down on me from Heaven and I can hear him saying “You done good kid”.

My son Ryan being silly with his Ompa a few months before he passed.