Jamey and I became allies back in 1983 the first time I met him.  His brother Mark took me to meet his family when they still lived on Green Ave in Lawrenceville.  Here I am a girl from Illinois meeting my future husband’s family and feeling a little nervous.  I walk in through the front door, which I believe is the last time I used the front door, and there he was Jamey.  He was 18 at the time wearing the biggest grin ever with a duster in his hand!  He wanted the house to look nice for me so he was dusting the antique light fixture his parents had purchased on one of the family vacations in Maine.  I think that is when I fell in love with Jamey~

I thought who does that?  He has got to have a great heart and a gentle soul and I was correct on both counts.  Jamey and I bonded and became each other’s touch points in the Cranstoun world; we both “hid” while playing a mean game of “Oh Hell”.  While the brothers Mark and Steve tried to out maneuver each other and Stan and Anne Marie were natural card sharks Jamey and I tried to fly under the radar- we bid zero the entire game and had an understanding that we were the Card Sharks the others were just trying too hard!

Jamey became the younger brother I never had.  He put up with this Irish Catholic girl (yes the temper is always just below the surface) and I believe I filled a space in his heart that was incomplete since his mother passed away.  He adored Anne Marie, so the sister role didn’t need feeling, but I became an older confidant that he knew loved him unconditionally and was fiercely protective of him.  He once called me to ask when he would know if the girl he met was the “one”.  We talked for a while and the next thing I knew he had broken up with the girl he was dating.  He met Kim a few years later and called me again, “You know that talk we had about the “one” I found her.”

Once Jamey found Kim all the empty spaces of his heart were filled by her.  He didn’t need me as his confidant now, I became the older sister he could share stories with of his wife.  Jamey’s heart grew even more when Caeley was born and then he would call and share proud dad moments.

I was eternally grateful that Kim and Caeley entered his life; he was complete and happier than I had ever known him to be.

Jamey, the best ally a girl could have in life!