Jamie

Jamie was a close friend in elementary school. He wore large, over the ear hearing aids and got lice several years in a row. I still remember the day he said he wished I was his brother (he had brothers he loved dearly). By high school we remained friends and played baseball together. His father had a heart attack and died during our senior year baseball season.

I worked at the local minor league baseball stadium over the summer and Jamie sometimes visited me. One night he nervously asked me who the girl was working at the customer service kiosk. I asked him if he wanted to meet her; a moment later I asked her what she thought of "that guy over there." "He's hot." Thus the teenagers met. A few years later they wed and had two sons together.

In grade school Jamie told (and wrote) a story about how his parents met during a car accident. Jamie thought that was a terrific story. In retrospect, the love at first sight tale likely inspired his own love story. I used to take credit for helping Jamie find his wife but he was probably going to ask her out either way. A poetic destiny awaited him.