The Beginning
I have wanted to write about how Jamie impacted my life, but I couldn’t find the words for a long time. Every time I tried, I realized I wasn’t just trying to tell a story—I was trying to put words to someone who changed my life in ways I didn’t fully understand until she was gone.
Jamie and I met on Facebook Dating. I was actually about to delete my profile when I came across hers. She caught my eye immediately. There was a picture of her hiking Table Rock, and I figured asking about it would be a good icebreaker. She responded almost right away, and from that moment on, things just clicked.
Our conversations were easy, funny, and honest. We talked about life, kids, work, hiking, and all the ordinary things—but it never felt ordinary. Talking to Jamie felt natural, like something I hadn’t realized I was missing.
What It Was Like to Know Her
Jamie was engaging, open, honest, and genuinely funny.
She had a way of making everything feel easy.
She took the lead in our relationship from the very beginning—not in a loud or forceful way, but in a confident, steady one. Being with her didn’t feel like work or guesswork. It felt natural and safe.
The song You Make It Easy by Jason Aldean became “our” song because it described exactly how she made me feel—like I didn’t have to fight my way into love or prove myself to earn it. With Jamie, love just fit.
From the start, she made conversation easy. She didn’t turn getting to know each other into an interview. She didn’t play games or hold things back. After only a couple of messages, she gave me her number. That small act said a lot about who she was—open, direct, and unafraid to trust her instincts. It felt like we’d skipped past the awkward part and landed somewhere real.
Jamie was incredibly easy to talk to, but more than that, she was easy to be with. She made me feel safe—safe to be honest, safe to be imperfect, safe to just be myself. I never felt like I had to pretend or perform around her. That kind of comfort is rare, and I didn’t fully realize how rare it was until it was gone.
She was genuinely interested in people. She listened. She showed up with warmth and curiosity instead of judgment. She had a way of making ordinary moments feel meaningful.
Loving Jamie
Loving Jamie felt natural. Being with her made me feel grounded, calmer, and more at peace than I had been in a long time. She allowed me to be exactly who I was and helped me become a better person.
I won’t pretend that Jamie and I had a perfect relationship. We had difficulties. We were both in transitional times in our lives, and that made it hard to have the relationship we both deeply desired. The difference with Jamie was that we could work through our differences honestly and with care. I will always regret not having the opportunity to see where our love might have led us if we had more time together.
Losing Her
When I got the news that Jamie had passed, an unimaginable sense of loss hit me all at once. I knew losing her would be incredibly difficult, but I didn’t understand how immediate and overwhelming it would be. There was no easing into it. No gradual realization. It was instant and crushing.
I sobbed uncontrollably for several minutes. It wasn’t graceful or quiet. It was raw, physical, and completely consuming. In that moment, the world felt like it had shifted in a way that couldn’t be undone. The weight of her absence settled in deeper than I could have prepared for.
Realizing I would never again feel her loving embrace, hear her laugh, see those warm, loving eyes, or be on the receiving end of that smile—my God, she had a smile that absolutely melted me every time—was almost impossible to comprehend.
What Remains
Losing Jamie changed me. There are parts of my life that feel quieter now, places where her presence used to be. But there are also parts of me that exist because of her—because of how she loved, how she showed up, and how she made things feel possible and safe.
The grief I still feel is sometimes overwhelming, but I believe that in time it will become something I can carry. I also know that only those who experienced Jamie’s love firsthand can truly understand what that loss feels like. We all lose people we love, and that pain runs deep—but knowing Jamie, loving her, was different.
Jamie will always be a part of who I am. The love we shared didn’t disappear when she did—it lives on in the way I see the world, in the way I love, and in the parts of me she helped shape. Knowing her changed my life, and I will carry that with me always.
You made it easy, baby. I love you.