Tuesday, August 6, 2024
Eleven years ago a terrible part time job and one missed bus ended up providing me with one of the best friends I could have asked for. Jim offered to drive me home after a long night shift and the poor man had to listen to me talk on, and on, and on the entire way home…. And even after he had parked the car. I don’t think the poor guy ever expected for me to come barreling into his life the way I did… but to be fair, I didn’t expect him either. If you held a special place in his heart, he would do whatever he could to make sure you knew how much you meant to him. If I was having a rough time, Jim was the first one to reach out with a kind word or a raunchy joke to try and get me to smile.
There are about a thousand different little stories I could put on here… like how we had to have the menu standing up between our plates anytime we went out for dinner because I ate my steak rare and he absolutely could not stand to look at it, how I would FaceTime him every night while I was in Edinburgh to tell him about my day and his face would light up in a way it only did when he talked about Scotland and we would plan our dream trip to Glasgow together until I fell asleep, when Jim came to pick up Haggis from my place after his trip home only to find that the wee man had become protective and territorial over me and wouldn’t let him sit on the same couch as me, or having to translate for him when he ordered an “extra large triple triple” at Tim Hortons and the staff had asked him to repeat himself three times (then hearing him complain about how he’s “not that hard tae understand” and he “cannae talk any slower”).
But it’s all the little things that he did, all those little moments shared - that we still managed to have even after I moved back to Winnipeg - all those added up to the most beautiful friendship. I loved and appreciated him more than I can ever express and my heart broke when I realized the reason why my friend didn’t return my call when he always, always would. I will be forever grateful that he found my nonstop talking endearing instead of annoying.
I love you Jim.
Kate
