The Jamies
Today Sunday August 2, 2020 is the first full day of not having Jamie Samuelson in the world. It’s a sad day indeed. He leaves an accomplished wife without a partner to share both everyday life and big moments worthy of champagne toasts and formal photographs. He leaves 3 children still very much in need of his wisdom, counsel, encouragement, unyielding support and what I have to assume would be an endless supply of dad jokes. He leaves siblings left to look and plan ahead as two instead of three. He leaves the dearest kindest parents you’d ever want to meet. And he leaves friends and colleagues from many seasons of his 48 years of life all carrying their own shared stories and connections.
On the heels of what has been known for decades as International Friendship Day, I'm compelled to share about one of the most beautiful friendships I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. The 41 years of friendship between The Jamies: both with the same name, year of birth and hometown of Lafayette. One half of The Jamies was Jamie Samuelson and the other Jamie Parry, my younger brother by just about 3 years. The Jamies' friendship was one of the rare ones; one that fit the best friend category right out of the gate and never wavered from its original label.
The Jamies had a united childhood. They shared teachers and classrooms and school projects and recess kick ball and LMYA basketball teams, with our Dads sharing the coach’s whistle and clipboards. They always did their Halloween costumes as one coordinated effort and won whatever Springhill School contest they entered — or at least that’s the family lore. They navigated the daily walks home from school, hoping and praying the troublesome neighborhood dogs would be out of sight — the dogs that seem to get more ferocious as the stories are retold. They constantly slept at each other’s houses, playing copious amounts of Atari, front yard whiffle ball games and spent countless hours plotting their perfect Star Wars story lines. And obviously being first in line for opening night of Return of the Jedi. Yes they were those guys.
And then there was their love of ridiculous comedy films like Airplane, Top Secret, Naked Gun, requiring line by line recitation to everyone else’s eventual annoyance, but leaving them holding their sides in laughter. They had their own short hand for their humor. As the obviously more refined older sister I cannot tell you what they found so funny, but they found it often. Plus they were so creative and, looking back I must admit, they were also very smart. They gave each other the most inventive gifts, always trying to one up the other on birthdays and Christmas. They took the Acalanes High School drama department and Mock Trial by storm, and to this day are known for all they gave in that season of life. The Jamies were always finding ways to be fully together, soaking up all that life had to offer boys and young men on the hunt for life’s richest and best adventures.
Their friendship intersected the lives of our two families, who enjoy one another’s company and who remain tightly connected even today. My own childhood memories have a continuous theme of times with the Samuelsons: days at the beach, tailgating at Cal football games, dinners out at neighborhood Chinese or Mexican or Pizza eateries; first or last day of school traditions of ice cream cones. What a gift it is to have decades of shared life events, friends and family all rooting for each other no matter what season of life we find ourselves in.
Our lives in the present moment are layers upon layers of relationships and shared experiences. We all carry one another, connected more fully than we can fully ever know or imagine. I have to believe deep rooted friendships from our early years help shape us and give us a foundation for all the other relationships which may lie ahead.
Much of Jamie Samuelson’s life has been lived 'out loud,' as evidenced by his role in the world of professional sports broadcasting in Michigan and beyond. The many tributes he has received talk about his kindness, his goodness and his care for others first and foremost. Truer words cannot be spoken. What an honor to have been witness to the foundational years of a great man who gave fully to one of life’s most important purposes: to love and be loved.
The great Irish priest and poet, John O’Donohue, who also left this world much too soon, offers wonderful words to those who mourn the death of a loved one; and these seem perfect for this sad day.
“…Let us not look for you only in memory,
Where we would grow lonely without you.
You would want us to find you in presence,
Beside us when beauty brightens,
When kindness glows
And music echoes eternal tones.
When orchids brighten the earth,
Darkest winter has turned to spring;
May this dark grief flower with hope
In every heart that loves you.
May you continue to inspire us:
To enter each day with a generous heart.
To serve the call of courage and love
Until we see your beautiful face again
In that land where there is no more separation,
Where all tears will be wiped from our mind,
And where we will never lose you again.”
PS - Please do as Jamie Samuelson asked of the world in his final days of life and get a colonoscopy by the age of 45.
