Jason with his girlfriend
I only received the news last week over my cousin’s passing in April. I won’t go into the details of the hows or whys because they’re not relevant here. I want to honor him for the good times we had as kids and teens; we never really met again after Grandma’s (Maggi) funeral.
In short, Jason was pretty funny and good-natured when we were kids. At Maggi Family gatherings my brother Brian and me would play with him and Cousin Ronnie. Being the oldest, I often tried to be the boss to no avail. The most memorable kid gatherings involved riding bikes with training wheels around Grandma’s house; the tricycle races in our basement (Jason figured that if we’re going in circles, just wait until your competition was lapping, then you’re ahead!); and making up goofy lyrics to pop songs during the big 1977 Maggi gathering at Uncle Skip’s house. The teen period was comprised of the usual things Eighties teens were into: video games (I played his miniature Space Invaders to death over a weekend), BMX bike races (Brian drew a great “no wimps” logo on Jason’s leg cast, the null symbol over Wimpy’s face), music/MTV (he along with Brian got me into Oingo Boingo, Black Flag) and girls (the usual stupid ideas boys have).
As I mentioned earlier, we never really saw each other nor communicated directly after the funeral…not to my recollection. My exile to ND for senior year happened, then college, then graduation/job hunting, the usual self-interesting stuff. We had one chat through FaceBook yet it was brief; Jason explaining why he wanted the 2016 Olympics to come to Chicago.
Jason, thank you again for the positive memories and contributions you made in my life.