I had written this up a while ago, and decided to go ahead and blog it....even though I have Kirra's birth story done, just need to upload pictures...yes I KNOW she's now 11 months old!!
Jason is my cousin. His mom and my dad are siblings. I have a span of memories of Jason at different times in our lives. The first thing I think of is when I was close to 5 years old he would to tease me to no end. One of his favorite things to say to me was “Should I call you ‘Danny-yell’ or ‘Danny-scream’?” I would say, “Danny-yell” (because it was closer to my name, Danielle). And he’d call me “Danny-scream” anyway and I would cry. Despite this teasing I looked up to him and his sister, Shawna, so much. Later, in high school I would use “scream” as my internet screen name, because of Jason. Jason has always been an artist, when I was little I remember he drew amazing pictures (a lot I remember were of “Watership Down”) and he had some cool Star Wars toys that my brother and I envied.
My parents divorced when I was 8 and I moved away and wasn’t able to see their family until I was about 13 years old. We came back to Washington for a family reunion and I was so excited to see them! I remember my brother and I being upset because our trip was in jeopardy of being cut short, and Jason said, “Wow, you guys have really grown up, you’re way more mature, in this case before, Josh would be spazing out and Danny would be throwing a fit and crying. You’re all grown up!”
Losing contact again, it wasn’t until I was in my mid-late 20’s when his mom told me I should read his blog. I found it, became a follower and started my own blog. On my side-reel of blogs I read, I called his “He’d call me Danny-Scream”. I had commented on a few blogs, and he eventually was curious enough to look through mine and realize that I was his long lost cousin! When I got engaged and started planning my wedding, my mom wanted to see if she could have this amazing nephew of hers come and take my wedding pictures. We’d seen his work on his blog, and knew we had to have him come down. He agreed, but kept saying that he couldn’t promise anything amazing, he hadn’t done a wedding before. When he showed up, he just started getting ready to take pictures, and I said, “HEY, DORK!! Get over here and give me a hug!!” (I hadn’t seen him for 16 years!) He later told us that he was apprehensive about the whole thing, not really knowing us anymore, and didn’t know what to expect. But he was glad that he and Shawna make the trek down here to reunite with old family. And I was happy to have some of the most amazing pictures from my wedding!
After that, we closely followed eachother’s blogs and facebook. We’d reunite a couple times a year for dinner, and we all so looked forward to these meetings. He’d stop to show me new things on my camera, so that I could progress in my photography. He’d make each of us feel so special and important. Just the way he did with everyone.
I’m a very nostalgic person and I love my extended family so much, they’re all so amazing. And I am SO glad I was able to have Jason close again. And so heartbroken that he is gone.
Jason, I will miss you more than you’ll ever know. But I know that I will see you again. And I look forward to that big huge hug. I will embrace your memory by getting back on track with my blog, and taking more pictures of the beauty around me that you captured better than I could ever hope to. But I will keep at it, like you always told me; it takes a hundred pictures to have that one good shot.
**Pictures are courtesy of his blog.
