The Last Supper

Last night my husband and I and my sister and her husband celebrated our amigo J's engagement to his fiance Leea, (a bombshell beauty from Dallas, Texas who is a lot of fun, kind, and smart to boot!). We also celebrated their upcoming wedding and their new home in Dallas.  We are so very happy for you J and Leea! 

For weeks we have been touting this evening as "The Last Supper" because the celebration also coincides with our amigo J moving back to Texas after living near us over the last three years. So while we are happy for J, we are also sad because we will be losing a great friend in the area.  Now i know we aren't really "losing" J.  Afterall, we know where he is going and will still see him periodically, but the thing is that we won't be able to get together on a regular basis for impromptu happy hours, D.C. United soccer games, etc...

The other thing is that all of our children are going to miss J mucho.  You see, they have grown up with Tio Jota. I mean they have literally grown up with him! He has been there to celebrate Tres' birthday since he was two (in fact we had a combined birthday fiesta for both of them) and he was one of the first people to go the the hospital after my sister's son was born and to meet Mia after she was born.  He has help to shape our sons' love of soccer and have made them shout for more "wee" on too many occasions to count! We have also played hundreds of hours of boggle, rock band, and video games together over the last three years.  And we have had innumerable great conversations over vino and dinner. 

I first met J almost over ten years ago (!) in Houston, Texas when i was visiting my sister there.  She had recently moved into this new apartment/house near Rice University where she was teaching at the time and began dating this new guy, Greg, who is now her husband.  So the purpose of the trip was not only to hang out with my sister Sherry, but to to meet her new boyfriend and to see if he would "pass muster".  When i arrived at the house Greg was there with several of his friends, including J.  I remember we had a great time hanging out that evening. We stayed up late talking into the wee hours of the morning. The hours flew by and I recall thinking that i liked my sister's new boyfriend, in part, because he had some cool amigos like J.

Later we would all travel together to France to celebrate Sherry and I turning 30. We would also vacation many times together on Cape Cod.  In fact, J would earn the title of "the only person" Gage would trust to take out his fishing boat.  (He doesn't even trust me!)  When J went traveling around Europe for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he stopped by Basel, Switzerland, where i was doing a very short-term secondment at the Bank of International Settlements, and hung out with me for a couple of days. I distinctly recall one afternoon when i skipped out of the office to watch the Swiss play a match at a local pub with J. We had a great time drinking beer and cheering with the locals.  

So yes, we are going to miss having you close by J, but we are not saying good-bye and last night really wasn't "The Last Supper". There will be many more suppers and hours of playing boggle and rock band, etc... in the future.  And we look forward to them and to sharing them with Leea!  We love you guys!