Happy Birthday Jason H!

For the rest of my life, I will always wish a happy birthday out into the great big void for Jason H. on October 25. Jason is 26 today.

You won’t see pictures of Jason here. I don’t know what he’s doing in his life right now, but I do remember him fondly every year on this day.

I guess Jason could be described as my first crush. I met him when I was six going on seven. It was Grade 2. I think all crushes in my life are based on him.

My friendship with Jason started when we were in the same class at elementary school. He just moved to our district halfway through the year before and I got to meet him at the bus stop the first day of second grade. We sat near each other in class; we spoke often. Jason and I had so much in common.

We were the exact same height all the way through elementary school. We both had the same deep blonde hair. Our eye colors are the same. He could have been a long-lost fraternal twin. We lived about two blocks from each other (only by defining blocks are groups of condos or townhouses, pick your word for it).

During the winter, Jason was allowed to open up his garage right next to the bus stop for all the kids to hang out in until the bus arrived. During the autumn and spring, all of us kids would play tag and other games I could no longer come up with the rules in the large field next to our bus stop. When the first snow would appear, the boys at the bus stop would try to play King of the Mountain on the large snow piles the plows made. The boys would try to whitewash the girls by pushing them into the snow. I stood up to the boys and defended the girls. I was able to tell Jason to not even try and he never did. Hey, the boy listened.

When I went to the school to see who was in my classes for grades 3, 4, and 5, I found Jason’s name listed every year. This wasn’t so bad.

Jason and I competed over everything. We would compete in sports. I played basketball for a couple of years and we tried to see whose team had better win records. We would play HORSE for hours, trying to be the winner. (For those who don’t know, HORSE is a game where you make baskets and if you make one, the other person has to try the same shot. If they don’t make it, they get a letter of the word horse. Whoever spells the word first, loses.) We were both in the same karate class in 3rd grade. We both made it past the first belt.

One of the major influences Jason had on my life was bowling. He joined a bowling league in 3rd grade. When 4th grade came, I joined as well. I was in leagues until a couple of years ago. I have many stories that root from bowling. Heck, if I really wanted to say it, I joined bowling because of Jason, ended up dating a guy in my senior year from bowling who told me to work at a bank, I applied at NABABNA and therefore I know DM, Keem, Matt, Scott, and Adam. I also know Katie and Troy through NABABNA. Joining bowling ended up setting so many things in my life on course.

Jason and I would play video games (Atari at first and then on the first Nintendo system) for hours in the afternoons. When the sun set my parents or his mom would tell the visitor it was time to go home. If we were at Jason’s house, he would walk me home. Once at my house, I would then need to walk him home. This would go on for about two hours and then a parent would drive us the two blocks.

I remember going over to Jason’s to dye Easter eggs one year. I remember Trick-or-Treating with him each year for Halloween. In fifth grade, my mom gave me four tickets to see New Kids on the Block (hey, I was turning 11 and they were cool). She told me I could bring two friends to the concert. I brought Jason as one of the friends. We had a wonderful time, screaming until our throats no longer worked and then we each had the next day off of school. We went bowling. I remember that.

Jason’s birthday is the day before mine. We competed over this too. Each year, we tried to get presents early to be able to be the first to celebrate. My parents consistently gave me gifts on the 24th of October, just so I could "brag" to Jason on his birthday. We would compete over what we got as gifts. We also competed the same way at Christmas time.

Neither of us have any siblings and he helped me form my definition of friendship. It is a little different for only children. You can be content to be by yourself but when you do need someone, there is no sister or brother to call on. You HAVE to make close friends. You HAVE to have a network of people to rely on. I form strong friendships that are closer to family relationships. I still do this. Having Jason as a friend for all those years helps this.

In junior high and high school, I didn’t have every class with Jason. He was in my math class each year (advanced program) and I still talked to him, although nothing like our younger days. We always got along; we never fought. The crush was not a bad one, it was just that here was a boy I spent most of my time with. I admire Jason. I always will. He is sweet, decent, and strong.

Jason and I ended up going to the same university when we graduated high school. I would run into him (amongst the 40,000 other students) and we would stop and chat for about an hour.
A couple of years ago, my dad ran into Jason at the store while buying a birthday card. This young man walked up to him and carefully said, "Hi, aren’t you Beth’s dad?" It turned out Jason’s girlfriend (and maybe wife now) has the same birthday as he does. I had heard in high school that he kept dating girls that had their birthdays between October 24 and October 27. It seems he found a pattern in his life too. My dad passed on the hello and happy birthday from Jason.

I hope my old friend is doing well out there in this big world. He’s a great guy and I wish him all the happiness in the world.

2 Comments:

At 7:57 AM, CarpeDM said...

This was very sweet. Happy Birthday, Jason H.

At 11:29 PM, Matt said...

And you sometimes wonder why so many people find you amazing Little Sister. This was a very sweet post, I hope Jason is able to stumble across it somehow, I would be so touched to knwo that a person I knew had so many good things to say about me. Happy Birthday Jason, thank you for being there for my Little Sister before she discoverd she had a Big Brother, that means a lot to me.
Matt