Wedding for a Special Friend

Today Jaime married Autumn and became Mr & Mrs Smith. We were invited to their wedding. I really don't know much about Autumn. The few times I have seen her, she has stayed close to Jamie and taken great care of him. It doesn't matter, because if Jamie has chosen her, then she must be pretty special.

I have known Jaime since he was a small boy. Jamie, his brother Pedro (aka Shuman) and sister Mariemilia are the celebration of two great families, the Smith and Manrique families. When I first met Jaime, he was called Jaimeto. His brother Shuman was still breastfeeding and his sister would not be born for years to come. Jaimeto's father was called Jaime. Jaime was a very generous man. He helped many of family members (both on his side and his wife's) to have a place to live and find a job. Jaime was one of the most generous people I have ever known. He never had a lot, but what he had was yours. Jaime was always the life of the party. He loved to laugh and share that laughter with others. Sadly Jaime left us too early.

Even though Jaime and his wife Rebecca were divorced, Rebecca made sure that all of Jaime's friends and family where with him in his final hours. One thing about this amazing family is that when one falls or needs help, there is always one or more to step forward to offer support, or step in their place to move forward. Rebecca was never the life of the party, but she was always strong and loving. She kept her family moving forward and provided the love and support her children needed, but it didn't stop there. She is one amazing woman. This family is very big and very close. It is made up with many aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews and nieces.

So back to the wedding... Jaime and Autumn got married and there was not one dry eye anywhere. Jaimeto has cancer. He has been battling cancer for some time now. He has been in a wheel chair for years. This is a marriage made of the purest love.

When it came time to speak about the newlyweds, and propose a toast. One family member stepped up to the plate, each to be overwhelmed by the emotion of the moment. First was Jamie's younger brother Shuman. He mention that his brother has had a rough time. He broke down, but immediately, his sister came to him to support him. She expressed her love to the couple. She mentioned how after her father passed away, that it was Jaimeto that stepped into that role for her, but it was too much for her as well and she broke down. Jaimeto took the mic to express his gratitude and love for his friends and family too, but the emotion overwhelmed him as well. Their mother Rebecca took the mic, followed by their grandmother. "This is not a time for tears ...". This family does not know the meaning of defeat, but they do know the meaning of the word "family".

Over thirty years ago, I was first invited to this family's house for Christmas eve. Only two people in this huge family knew me and they did not know me that well but we worked together at a hotel. They brought out a huge bag with one present in for each person, including me. I was shocked. This family took me in to their home and treated me like one of their own. To this day, I feel a special connection with them. They are part of my family. Jaimeto, I am grateful to you and your family in ways you can never know. I love you very much and am grateful that you included us in our wedding. You are a shining example of what family means.

May God bless each and every one of you.

COHS Water Polo Alumni Match 2011

I had to come down to Southern California for work, so I extended my stay by a day so that I could get together with my classmates at our Pizza Night, which was great. For some reason my wife insisted that I stay an extra day and not worry about coming home until Sunday morning. She said that I don't get to visit my friends from school very often.

Friday morning Diana (Cobos) Campbell gives me a ride from Anaheim and we go directly to Charter Oak. I want to know when the alumni match will be. In the office, the lady says that they have not set the date yet, but gives me the phone number to one of the coaches. I call and leave a message on his voice mail. About 10 minutes later, he calls back and explains that the match tomorrow (Saturday) at 10:00am. What a lucky break.

With less than 24hours notice, I get my phone and start calling friends. Cobos calls her brother. I post a notice on Facebook and we put the word out.

Craig "Gumby" Schaeffer and myself are the only ones this year that can play. Eric Schubel makes it, but it recovering from an injury, so he and his son are there for moral support as well as Inez Schaeffer, Diana (Cobos) Campbell, Pam McKovich and her son Hunter, Steve Brady and others.

This year things are a bit different. They are charing $10 for alumni to play, which is fine. The money goes to help the water polo team. Craig and I are smarter than we were two years ago. Then, we warmed up rather well. Too well. By the time the game started we were already tired. We had spent too much energy warming up.

Another difference is that instead of one huge alumni team with about 25 substitutes, we are split between those that graduated in this millennium and those of us that graduated in the last millennium. This is a serious concern for us older folks. We are going to have to play a lot more as our team is much smaller.

Both Craig and I started. We like to think that we did no harm. We substituted in and out throughout the game. During one play, I passed the ball to Craig and he scored. Chalk up one for the geezers! At the end of the fourth quarter, it was tied. We played one more period and managed to win the game 21 to 20. That is the same score we won by last time we played, two years ago.

It was a great game. We were all puffing and wheezing, but we pulled it off. Hats off to COHS varsity water polo, especially number 9. We may have won, but they played a full game before they even played us.

See you all next year and hopefully we will have more time to prepare and more Lancers from the 1970's. Maybe coach McNeil will show up, who knows?

COHS Water Polo Alumni Match 2011

I had to come down to Southern California for work, so I extended my stay by a day so that I could get together my classmates at our Pizza Night, which was great. For some reason my wife insisted that I stay an extra day and not worry about coming home until Sunday morning. She said that I don't get to visit my friends from school very often.

Friday morning Diana (Cobos) Campbell gives me a ride from Anaheim and we go directly to Charter Oak. I want to know when the alumni match will be. In the office, the lady says that they have not set the date yet, but gives me the phone number to one of the coaches. I call and leave a message on his voice mail. About 10 minutes, he calls back and explains that it is tomorrow (Saturday) at 10:00am. What a lucky break.

With less than 24hours notice, I get my phone and start calling friends. Cobos calls her brother. I post a notice on Facebook and we put the word out.

Craig Schaeffer and myself are the only ones that make it to play. Eric Schubel makes it, but it recovering from an injury, so he and his son are there for moral support as well as others such as Inez Schaeffer, Diana (Cobos) Campbell, Pam McKovich and her son Hunter, Steve Brady and others.

This year things are a bit different. They are charing $10 for alumni to play, which is fine. The money goes to help the water polo team. Craig and I are smarter than we were two years ago. Then, we warmed up rather well. Too well. By the time the game started we were already tired. We had spent too much energy warming up.

Another difference is that instead of one huge alumni team with about 25 substitutes, we are split between those that graduated in this millennium and those of us that graduated in the last millennium. This is a serious concern for us older folks. We are going to have to play a lot more as our team is much smaller.

Both Craig and I started. We like to think that we did no harm. We substituted in and our throughout the game. During one play, I passed the ball to Craig and he scored. Chalk up one for the geezers! At the end of the fourth quarter, it was tied. We played one more period and managed to win the game 21 to 20. That is the same score we won by last time we played, two years ago.

It was a great game. We were all puffing and wheezing, but we pulled it off. Hats off to COHS varsity water polo, especially number 9. We may have won, but they played a full game before they played us.

See you all next year and hopefully we will have more time to prepare and more Lancers from the 1970's. Maybe coach McNeil will show up, who knows?

COHS Pizza Night

Before I get started about the Pizza Night, our hearts go out to Deann (Call) Lent, her family, friends and neighbors. She lives in Seal Beach. On Wednesday a crazed gunman entered a beauty salon and murdered eight people. Deann's son goes to school with the boy, whose father did the killing and the mother who was one of the murder victims. Deann, our thoughts and prayers are with you and yours.

We have been doing COHS Pizza Nights for a few years now, but this was absolutely one of the best. We had a great turn out including two of our teachers:

Mr. King was our music teacher in 8th grade at Sunflower Jr. High. He was so cool. He was into racing cars. He dressed more like us than your normal teacher. He introduced many of us to the Beatles for the first time. We explored what kind of music we liked. We did not sit in rows, instead we sat in a circle where everyone could see everyone else. It was so great to talk about music, cars and our times in school with Mr King and he could not have been more gracious.

Mr. Hall was my German teacher for all four years at Charter Oak. I was born in Frankfurt Germany. I immigrated to the US when I was only a year old. No one wanted to learn German more than I, yet I had a tough time. On my first vocabulary test I got a "D". This was devastating. I did not give up and Mr. Hall never gave up on me. After high school, I would continue to study German for 3 more years in college. Mr. Hall is actually Dr. Hall. He received his PHD during my senior year. A special thanks to Pam McKovich, who arranged Mr and Mrs Hall to attend our pizza night. It was very special to be able to spend time again with him after so many years.

We had a larger than normal turn out. Not everyone who thought they could make it did, but quite a few did show up who didn't think they could. My brother Dave was able to attend our gathering and it is always nice to see him. We had a number of first timers. I hope they felt welcome as we all share a special bond.

Eric Schubel is normally part of our group of regulars. He was recently in an accident, but after four days, his injuries have not improved. He decided to go to Urgent Care. We wish him a swift and full recovery. Eric says he will be at the alumni water polo match tomorrow. He won't play, but he will be there to cheer us on.

Thank you to everyone who made this such a special evening.