James.

Hello. My name is Kira, and James was one of my best friends. I have to start this with a story. On May 19th, before I knew James was even sick, I posted a silly story on facebook. My husband works with the City of Chicago occasionally, and he will tell me stories about how the city government is run. He will inevitably talk about the commissioner. Without fail, I will interrupt him and say, “Commissioner Gordon?!” He just goes along with it, no matter how many times I do it. When I posted that, I thought, “Man, I need to tell James this story next time I talk to him.” I knew he would appreciate my Batman allusions, though he’d correct me also, and tell me about how Gotham is NOT Chicago and the commissioner of Public Health is NOTHING like the police commissioner. Then he’d throw in a disparaging comment about Harry Potter being a Batman ripoff. That was our friendship. It was built on humor and bolstered by good-natured teasing. In fact, our first interaction was when we were working at Walgreens together. He was a Team Lead and I was just a line worker. For some reason, he thought it would be hilarious to play a prank on me. I fell for it….twice in one day. And it was hilarious. It forever cemented our relationship. After that, you couldn’t find one of us without the other. I’d be eating his gummy bears at his desk, with him teasing me about only picking certain colors. Or he’d be standing at my station, distracting me and looking for any opportunity to play another joke on me. That day, the first day, was almost ten years ago. I can’t believe I got 9 years with him as a friend. It feels like so much longer, but also feels like not long enough. For nearly a decade, James has been my steadfast friend. He was such a reliable presence in my life. Lunch was our thing. We would always meet up, on weekends, when we were unemployed, any time we had time. We’d go to Casey Moore’s, where he’d order fish and chips and a lemonade. Or we’d go to Oreganos and split a pizookie. Well, split is a generous word. He sometimes got a bite. Sometimes, if we were working, he’d bring me Chipotle, memorizing my complex order in no time. But that was James. He paid attention and did thoughtful things without even thinking about it. It was his nature. He helped me pack up and move my stuff to Chicago, and then came back the next day to help clean, because he had some days off. Who wants to spend their day off helping someone move? James was selfless and would do anything for anyone. He was also the least judgemental person I’ve ever met. He met me as an annoying 23-year-old at one of the lowest moments of my life. And he still found it in his heart to love me, to be my friend. He looked past all of the bad I had, and decided to always think the best of me. This made it so much easier to talk to him. I shared with him everything: fleeting thoughts, political and religious beliefs, half-baked ideas. He listened earnestly and somehow always made me feel better. I miss my friend. I wish we had taken more pictures together. As it is, we have one: a picture from James and Sally’s wedding day. I’m incredibly happy, Sally is looking at James and me and laughing, and James looks like he knew he was the luckiest man in the world. I wish I had hugged him more. I am not a big hugger. James would always try to hug me when I was down, and I was always so awkward about it. I should have hugged him more, clutched him harder, and relished every moment with him. I wish my daughter was able to meet her Uncle James, for him to teach her his theories about cannibalistic pokemon and slip her zebra cake behind my back. I know he’d be amazing, because he is an amazing uncle. He loves his family, particularly the kids, so much. I didn’t meet many of them until the wedding, but felt like I already knew them, with how much he talked about them. And then he married Sally and got more nieces and nephews to love, to spoil, to teach his special brand of geekdom. But with all of the things I wish happened, I am so grateful for what already has. I am so grateful I had his friendship. I am so grateful I got to see him a few weeks ago. And I will be forever grateful that I got to see his relationship with Sally grow. James was never as happy as he had been in the past year. I can take credit for that...sort of. I introduced James and Sally. Whenever I met a nice LDS girl, I’d think of James, and see if they were good enough for him. The only one who ever was was Sally. I knew Sally was special from the beginning, from the first time I volunteered at the Refugee Resettlement agency and asked her if she wanted to get lunch. We got comfortable enough that Sally told me she was single. I told her that I knew a great guy, but he was a little geeky. I asked him if I could give her his number, and the rest is history. When I found out James passed, there was a split second where I regretted introducing them. I knew Sally was going through pain I could never understand, and I felt partially at fault for that. If I hadn’t introduced them, she wouldn’t be hurting right now. That thought was fleeting, and reality took over. They found each other, and had a beautiful year married. There are infinities contained in that year. And there are infinities to come. I have so many memories of James. I could talk about him forever. For the past few days, stories been racing through my mind: the summer he took me to every music store in the East Valley to find a ukulele, how sweet and tender he was any time he thought I was down, his blue eyes twinkling as he gave me a stuffed Meowth so I could finally be Rocket Team for Halloween. He was such a good man, patient, loving, and absolutely hilarious. To James’s wonderful family: My heart aches for you. But know what an amazing human you produced, who touched so many lives. To Sally: I don’t know if anything I say can alleviate even a modicum of pain. However, words from your church echo through my head every time I think about you: “For time and all eternity.” To James: I’ll see you again sometime. Let’s get lunch and discuss why Jigglypuff is NOT an appropriate Hogwarts house. I love you James. Thank you for being you.