Memories of an Air Force friend

I ... remember the wonderful person he was. From Lt. Wilson I learned many things, but the most important, I think, are Integrity and Happiness. Lt. Wilson didn't just talk about Integrity he personified it. About Happiness he taught me that one has a choice, to view life's challenges in a positive light or to mope about through ones existence. Because I had the opportunity to meet and work with Lt. Wilson, the way I view life has been irrevocably changed. There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about and remember Lt. Wilson. His spirit lives on because, I, and many others remember him and try to carry his spirit with us.

These remembrances were penned by Samantha "Sam" Adams, who served at Spangdahlem Air Force Base with Jamin.

Happy Birthday Jamin

"Know ye herewith that the International Star Registry doth hereby re-designate star number Capricornus RA 20h 16m 54s D-25. 55' to the name Lt. Jamin Buchanan Wilson. Know ye further that this star will henceforth be known by this name."
These are the words we read Christmas morning, as the gift of this beautiful tribute was made from Brynna to us, to honor her oldest brother. And so when you look to the heavens, on a night when the sky is dark and the stars are bright, you might just be looking at a star named "Jamin".
We already have the hope of seeing our own Jamin again in Heaven...but for now it's fun to know we can see Jamin's star in the heavens!
"I say emphatically that anyone who listens to my message and believes in God who sent me has eternal life, and will never be damned for his sins, but has already passed out of death into life. ...Don't be so surprised! Indeed the time is coming when all the dead in their graves shall hear the voice of God's Son and shall rise again--those who have done good (through faith in Christ), to eternal life; and those who have continued in evil, to judgement." John 5:24, 28 & 29. (TLB)

WOW,I'M AT HARVARD!

It was in late October, of '01 that we received the following e-mail from Jamin--a real classic. I had the opportunity to re-read it the other day, and thought I would share some excerpts...

"So, the past few weeks here have been "Wow, I'm at Harvard" weeks. I think it all began when I was sitting there in my Physics class, just listening or doodling or whatever I usually do, and my teacher was talking about the elemental forces in the universe (electromagnetic, nuclear weak, nuclear strong, and gravitational, if you were interested) and how many of them are caused by relationships between quarks (which are sub-particles of atoms). So I was kind of like, "hmm, that's cool." Then she started to tell us about the quarks, and it went something like this:

"There are three pairs of quarks.
Up, down.
Strange, charm.
Top, bottom.
I found this one..."
(as she points at Top quark)

So I was just sitting there, waiting for her to finish her sentence, because she has this habit of pausing in her sentences from time to time, as many of us do... You know, perhaps, "I found this one... particularly cool," or "I found this one... to be the most interesting," or something along those lines. But that was it. That was the end of the sentence. She found the top quark. Wow. I'm at Harvard.

Hmm, so since that wasn't enough, I went to see the installation of President Summers (the new president of Harvard) this past weekend. Oh man, did they have the yard decked out. Chairs, banners, stage, speakers, big tent over the stage... It was very cool. But then the ceremony started, and that was even better. The band played, and the choir sang, and the band played some more, and then all the important people started filing in. There were a lot of important people. And they came in with other, less important, people carrying little signs in front of them, so that everyone could tell who they were. My favorite part was seeing all the delegates that came from other universities all over the world, because they had these totally crazy outfits. Oh, but the very best part was when the President of Yale University got up to give a welcome on behalf of the delegates, and he told us this story about how all these other people from Yale who had spoken here had avoided conceding that Harvard was the better university. But the best part was when he admitted that we really were the best. I was like, Wow. I'm at Harvard.

Then I was sitting in the dining hall the other day, and I realized that I was eating fish for the second time in one day, and that I actually liked the stuff now. And it was sort of like, Wow, I'm at Harvard.

And then there was this other time I was sitting in the Dining Hall (it's a pretty great place to sit, you see), and I got to talking with the guy across from me about worker's wages, which turned into a discussion af absolute morality and the nature of truth and the possibility of the existence of truth and other such topics of light conversation, and I was thinking, Wow. I'm at Harvard.

Then, this other time, I went to a celebration for the 100th anniversary of one of the buildings in Adams House, and this guy told us about all the famous people who have lived here, like Franklin D. Roosevelt and such, and there were pastries and champagne and Earl Gray tea, and everyone was standing around socializing in the masters' house, which has been perfectly restored to its 17th Century style, and eating chocolate fondue and sipping their tea and listening to a trio playing classical music in the music room, and I was sort of thinking -- you know -- Wow. I'm at Harvard.

Oh, yes. Then there was this other time... I was sitting at my desk this past week, reading like mad and working on a problem set for one of my classes, which was after I had spent the previous weekend working on a briefing for ROTC, having just finished a paper for English, studying for an Economics test, trying to come up with some intelligent question to ask in my English section and a topic for the paper that I now have to write for my History and Literature tutorial, and being thankful that my TF had moved one of my problem sets' due date to next week because I knew that there was no way I could possibly finish it this week... and I fell asleep at my desk. No! Not that! Yes. That. Because, after all... Wow. I'm at Harvard."

I can hear Jamin perfectly as I read this...the way he talked really fast when he was excited. And I can't help but think about who he was, and what he was--brilliance, wrapped up in bright cotton candy. Not pink though-green.

Festing

"Ooooooh maaaaan - you guys came at just the right time. Its the season of 'festing' over here in Germany! These Germans sure know how to throw a good party!"

But before there was any "festing" to be had, there was planning to be done. Day three had us all lounging in our pajamas for the better part of the morning trying to figure out what we were going to do with the remainder of our 7 days in Europe.

The travel books all came out and the old Internet search engine was fired up to look for hostels to stay in and cities to visit. Our plan was to leave the next day so we really only had a couple of hours to get everything in place. I started in on the computer while Jamin took the books and maps into the kitchen to spread out on the table. We narrowed down that Amsterdam and Bavaria (southern Germany) would be our two lands to conquer this time around. I was making pretty good headway on a few places to stay and so I went into the kitchen to report in to Jamin and get his stamp of approval. When I glanced in I saw a scene that was oh so familiar. There was Jamin sitting in his chair, head down in complete concentration - engrossed in his travel guide. He was reading it like a novel! He must have sensed me there because after a few seconds he looked up and started in with "Oh man Molly - did you know . . . " He had been caught deviating from his assigned task and he knew it but I guess he figured that if he could at least pass along some of the knowledge that he had just gained somehow it would cover up for the fact that he was reading about neither Amsterdam or Bavaria! It was just like him though - he couldn't pass up a good opportunity to absorb information no matter how trivial or pertinent to the task. Though frustrating to me at times I realized how well rounded he was because of occasions such as this.

By afternoon our plans were in place and we were headed down the road to the Maderscheid Bergenfest. This is probably a good opportunity to make note of Jamin's musical tastes as the ride to the festival was close to 45 minutes and Jamin's iPod was the one in action on the way there. The aforementioned "well roundedness" likewise applies here. Jamin could and did listen to practically every type of music. He especially latched on to techno music during his European travels and so as we drove through the quaint German countryside and villages there was all the time a modern dance party of sorts going on within his vehicle. It took a little getting used to but truthfully I think it was the only type of music that could keep up with his own energy level. I have been told as well that whenever Jamin traveled to a new country he would spend a good deal of time in the local music store picking up new songs and styles. He loved it all though!

As we approached the festival it became clear that parking was going to be an issue but Jamin knew exactly what to do - and so with his expertise in "festing" and a little bit of sheer luck we ended up with "the premier parking spots of all parking spots!" A walk down the hill towards the festival (held in an old medieval castle grounds) had us rolling with laughter before too long because as we approached the castle we heard a rustling in the woods above us and so we looked up to see three people in full medieval garb slipping and rolling down the forested hillside. It looked like a scene from Lord of the Rings. Jamin had forgotten to mention to us that if we dressed up in costume we would get a discounted entry fee.

Inside the festival Jamin was good enough to stay by our side as we fumbled our way through German food ordering. We spent the remainder of the evening just wandering around the castle, snapping photos, looking at the wares for sale and enjoying a good old fashioned jousting tournament. We stopped on our way back to the car to enjoy the fireworks display and then meandered our way back through the pitch black countryside (detours and all) to Jamin's apartment - "Dragostea din Tei" bouncing over the speakers.

A Perfect Host

Day two of our trip proved just what a great host Jamin was. For anyone that has ever been hosted by Jamin, while in college or in the service, you will understand and appreciate the sacrifices (usually small and unnoticeable) that he went through to entertain his guests.

The day started with a tour of Jamin's base. I was truly clueless about military life and Jamin patiently weathered all of my questions about the base and his job. Jamin had just started a new job on the base before we arrived over there and I could tell that he was honestly so excited about what it was he was doing. I learned to stop asking detailed questions about the "work" side of Jamin back when he was in college because as hard as he tried to simplify whatever it was he was doing - it still never made sense to me. What always came across though was his enthusiasm. I think that the normal response from people when you ask them about work is "Its ok." But to Jamin it was always a positive statement, always an opportunity for growth, always a way to be helpful, always "great!"

After spending the morning at the base Jamin drove us 30 minutes down the road to the city of Trier (the oldest city in Germany). Since Jamin lived in the country, Trier was the closest thing Jamin had to a big city and even though he had been there numerous times before he still made the effort to get us excited about what we were going to see. Though a rainy afternoon we enjoyed a pleasant lunch at an outdoor cafe where Jamin made sure I had my first German bratwurst.

We wandered around the city for awhile when Jamin suggested we get ice cream "In the rain?" I questioned. We were definitely the only ones walking around the streets with raincoats on licking ice cream cones. Jamin was patient with Parker and I as we explored the beautiful buildings and took our time taking pictures.

On our way back to the car we passed by a shop that carried only real fruit juice gummies. Jamin couldn't pass up the opportunity and so we ended up spending 20 minutes picking out just the right shape, size and taste of gummies to purchase. Just one more example to me about how Jamin was inquisitive about any and every subject.

After a nap and dinner back at the apartment we headed back out to Trier to meet up with Jamin's friend Matt and enjoy a night on the town. I had given Jamin a shirt as a (very) late birthday present on our arrival in Germany and I was pleased to see that he wore it for me. He was pretty impressed with himself to be "so stylin'!"


Again not really an exceptional day in any way but a happy one at least spent in the presence of my brother.