Happy 73rd Birthday

The last birthday we were able to celebrate with Larry was his 72nd. His children joined us for dinner at The Village Inn. 

 Larry and Becky Jamison

 Larry Jamison and daughter Ruthie Jamison Brady

 Larry and daughter Rachael Jamison

 Larry and granddaughters Emily and Olivia Brady

 Larry and future daughter-in-law Mindy Dow

Larry with son Jeremy and son-in-law Brandon Brady.

The most memorable birthday Larry celebrated was Oct. 11, 1996 as his family and friends gathered in our home. His best friend at the time was Jennifer Jordan and she gifted him with 50 gifts since it was his 50th birthday party.

Your loving family wishes you a Happy 73rd Birthday this year, Larry.

The Laptop's gone, but the contents bless me

This week it came to my attention that my friend Dhiana needed a computer. Since Larry's Toshiba laptop was still in my possession, but not being used, I gladly offered it to Dhiana. I worked 3 hours Monday evening transferring all the documents and photos to the Western Digital Passport portable hard drive, pictured above. The laptop had Windows 10 on it, as well as Microsoft Office. 

Today I received this email from Dhiana: "Loving my computer! I love the keyboard. It's like playing the piano for me. Thank you so much, my friend!"

I'm happy that Dhiana has the computer and even happier that I still have possession of all of Larry's files. Now to find the time to sort and organize them. That will take me weeks! But it will help me feel like I'm interacting with my husband, as his personality is so evident in the things he saved and the way he chose to store them on his computer. I look forward to spending the time with him!!!

We Fell in Love on the Dance Floor

One of my favorite love songs is "Could I Have This Dance?" by Anne Murray. It has such special meaning to me, and here's why. 

I met Larry Jamison as we attended a local Divorce Support Group in July, 1991. I'd been divorced 18 months and had attended it through the year of 1990. In July of '91, I decided to go to the meetings again, as they were studying a new book on the subject of becoming a healthy "Single" and I knew I'd feel "safe" socializing among the attendees. Attending that night for the first time was Larry, as he'd been recently divorced. One of the activities encouraged by the hosts of the group was to attend a "Divorce Recovery Workshop" sponsored by First Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs. Many of the members of our local group attended the 7-week workshop. We became good friends with many good people, with whom we'd socialize after the meetings.

One very special evening several of us attended a local establishment in Colorado Springs, Larry's recent hometown, for refreshments and fun. Dancing was available and Larry asked me to dance to my all-time favorite "Unchained Melody", described in this way in Wikipedia: "Of the hundreds of recordings made, the Righteous Brothers' version in July 1965, with a solo by Bobby Hatfield, became the jukebox standard for the late 20th century. Hatfield changed the melody and many subsequent covers of the song are based on his version. The Righteous Brothers recording achieved a second round of great popularity when featured in the film Ghost in 1990. In 2004, it was Number 27 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema."

Well, it was while dancing to that love song that evening that I fell in love with Larry Jamison. Larry had been taught to do ballroom dancing by his mother while he was still a pre-teen. His father was an Air Force Officer so the family attended many social functions in Officers Clubs around the world. I had learned to do ballroom dancing through my Junior High and High School school years while enrolled in the Arthur Murray Ballroom Dance classes taught by Hazel (Mrs. Herb) Smith in Great Bend, KS. However, it was not necessary to know formal dance steps as Larry took me in his arms (for the first time) and shared his rhythm and emotion on the dance floor that October in 1991. 
Soon, Anne Murray's hit "Could I Have This Dance" became my second favorite love song because the words were so applicable to my sentiment. 

Wikipedia provides this information about this song: ""Could I Have This Dance" is a song recorded by Canadian country music artist Anne Murray. "Could I Have This Dance" was featured in the 1980 film Urban Cowboy and appeared on both the soundtrack album for that film, as well as on Murray's Greatest Hits compilation, issued in late 1980. It was released in August 1980 and became Anne Murray's fifth number one country hit as a solo artist. The single went to number one for one week and spent a total of ten weeks on the country chart."Could I Have This Dance" was also Anne Murray's tenth Top 40 on the U.S. pop singles chart, hit peaking at number thirty-three.The song was written by Wayland Holyfield and Bob House."

Could I Have This Dance

Anne Murray, Amy Grant

I'll always remember the song they were playin'
The first time we danced and I knew
As we swayed to the music and held to each other
I fell in love with you

Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?
Would you be my partner every night?
When we're together it feels so right
Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?

I'll always remember that magic moment
When I held you close to me
As we moved together, I knew forever
You're all I'll ever need

Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?
Would you be my partner every night?
When we're together it feels so right
Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?

Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?
Would you be my partner every night?
When we're together it feels so right
Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?

Now that Larry is gone from this earthly life, I would add this final verse:
I had this dance for the rest of your life,
You were my partner every night.
When we were together, it felt so right,
I had this dance for the rest of your life.  

Here are just a couple occasions of Larry and I dancing together.

Larry & I dressed appropriately for "Prom Night" at Hot August Nights in Reno, NV in 1999.

Larry & I danced at the wedding dance of Ruth Jamison and Brandon Brady in 2003.

Yes, Larry Jamison, my Love, 
I'll always remember the song they were playin'
The first time we danced and I knew
As we swayed to the music and held to each other
I fell in love with you