A friend in need.

I have a friend. An old friend. A funny friend. A favorite friend. Her name is Jaime Marrs. She was one of my 5 friends at my actual wedding and has been such a fun part of my life.

I met Jaime just before my sophomore year in high school, probably in the summertime when we started practicing volleyball. She was a freshman who made the team, but man, what I remember most about her was her attitude. It's not so much that she had a bad attitude, it was that she always had a scowl on her face. I didn't like her. She didn’t talk much and didn’t smile. And she was dating one of the hottest seniors. How dare her? Anyway, one day she didn't have a ride home from volleyball practice. I was riding home with Jill, and Jill offered her a ride. On this ride we talked and laughed and I realized that this scowled-faced girl was pretty funny. I guess the rest is history because Jaime became one of my best friends throughout the rest of high school, through college, through kids, and still is now.

Jaime is nothing short of a riot, she's quick witted, not at all shy, and smart enough to keep a joke going for hours. She would write the longest, most ridiculous, non sensicle notes I had ever read. I loved getting notes from her because they made absolutely no sense at all and had me laughing out loud every time I read them. I went through some of my high school memorabilia and have an excerpt for you,

“So red is the word, grass is lumpy cows in field of purple ants attacking China and Asia is advancing toward Australia where kangaroos give birth to 5 pocketed jeans in which everybody overlooks the 5th pocket since 1654 and it has that key to cloud 9 where god shoots lightening bolts at horses all day that gallop in blue rivers that flow like honey to Pooh bears bag that Lisa is gonna give to her baby.”

Then she signs it,

“Bye, Me. P.S. srutkimlaop (hey but don’t tell anyone.)”

I know. WHAT??? But that’s the way this girls mind works.

I wish I could count the amount of laughs I have had with this girl. If I could count the actual laughs, it would easily be in the millions. We would laugh about how much we would laugh. We would laugh because we'd go to a party and start talking to people and then the people would walk away and just Jaime and me would be left together. Then we'd go talk to other people and somehow we'd be left alone again, laughing at ourselves. This is a longstanding joke between us, that no one wanted to hang around us, but us. The funny part was, we were fine with it.

******I know you don’t believe me, so I went to my senior book and found proof!!*********

It says, “we always laugh at”, I hand wrote, “me and Jaime in the corner” and put this picture!

Even my mom also had a soft spot for Jaime. Once during volleyball season, someone had cheeseballs. Jaime declared that cheeseballs were 'the shit'. I told my mom about “the shit” and made her buy me 'shit' for snacks. My mom actually let me call it 'the shit' in front of her - and my mom did not let us cuss. Ever. Jaime’s humor is irresistible.

After high school, Jaime chose to go to Texas A&M, and move far, far, away from me. We kept in touch and I made sure to head to College Station to party with her a few times. Jaime has 2 older brothers and a younger sister, all of whom share this humor. They are all hilarious and it’s a ton of fun to be around each and every one. Eventually, she and all her family moved to Houston, where they all live now. I’ve made several trips there to see her, and her daughter Faith.

These are old, Faith is 8 now.

Why am I telling everyone who reads my little family blog about one of my oldest and bestest friends? Because my friend needs prayers and lots of them. She called me last week with bad news. Breast cancer. She’s only 31. I was crying within seconds, but Jaime seemed optimistic. Mastectomy and chemo followed by remission. She was waiting on results of a fully body scan, but she was hopeful that this was just one chapter of her life.

But not so fast. Those results came back. Worse news. Stage IV, in her liver. I don’t know many details of her particular situation, but Stage IV is not good. Chemo starts this Wednesday. I’m hoping to make it to Houston this week to be with her and to help any way I can. Jaime’s mom lost her battle to cancer several years ago, and it sucks to say that her family is familiar with all this.

So, I’m asking you – any of you reading this – say some Prayers. Send good karma. Think good thoughts. Call in some favors to the big guy upstairs if you believe in him and he owes you. Pass this on to your friends. My friend needs each and every person who reads this to be positive and say prayers.

Contact me if you would like to help in other ways. Groceries, restaurant gift cards, itunes gift cards for movies while undergoing treatment, greeting cards, or other things. I can put you in touch with the right people.

Thanks in advance. I know I’ve got a big, caring, and faithful circle of family and friends who are willing to help.