John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmit, his name is my name too. Chris and I, as most of you may know, share our names. For as long as I can remember – and I’m sure even longer then – she used to sing this to me. It’s hard to think that I’ll never hear it again but it’s still easy to smile every time I hear it because it reminds me of her. There are far too many things to say about such an amazing woman so instead of talking about the things that made her so special I’ve decided to share a few of my favorite memories.

I remember this one time very vividly, though it was so long ago I can’t even tell you how old I was. Regardless, I was very young. I used to spend a lot of time with Mom Mom and Pop Pop – that’s what I’ve always called Chris and James. Partly because they wanted to spend as much time with me as they could but also because I was quite the handful at that age and I’m sure my parents could have used every break they got. The only thing is that this meant my grandparents had to find some way to redirect all this energy. So, this memory is about the time they took me to Helicopter museum over in West Chester. This was just about the coolest thing they could have done for a boy that age, in fact I might try to stop by there later because that’s still very cool. We spent all day there and I was running all around and climbing in everything I saw. Mind you, in hindsight I am not sure how… interactive the museum is (Ha!) But they were fantastic the entire time. Near the end of the day I stumble upon this table where they’re selling some beanie baby bear with aviation goggles and a scarf and I’ve absolutely got to have it. They were both very stern with me and explained how I can’t always get everything I want. Needless to say, we left with that silly bear. And that’s how they always were to me; they made sure to spoil me beyond belief.

So now fast-forward about twenty years. I’m just about to graduate college and I’ve just figured out where I was going to be working. I’m up in PA for the holidays and visiting everyone. As soon as I get there she is pulling out a map of the North-East and is trying to point out where Pittsfield is. She starts excitedly talking about all the places nearby that she has memories – the camps she worked at and places she visited with James. She was so excited for me and kept saying how she wanted to come visit. Well sure enough, two years later my dad loads the two of them up and drives them the whole way up for Thanksgiving. I was so happy to get to host them – hosting your parents and grandparents is sort of the pinnacle of adulthood or something like that. The thing I was grateful for that year was having the two most amazing grandparents around who were willing to drive five hours up to see their grandson. Like I said though, Chris was a very special lady and she will be missed.

Since I left for college I’ve tried to visit as often as I can but it just never seemed like enough. My wife and I were hoping beyond a hope that she would make it to our wedding. But that’s not always how life works. I don’t know if there’s an afterlife or if she was able to watch down on us but I do know that I wouldn’t be the man I am today without her and that so long as I act the way she taught me she’ll never really be gone. So in a sense, she’ll always be with me.