I am sitting here..up late as usual working on photography stuff..and wanted to share something on my mind (and lucky for you no one else is up). As I have gotten older, I have became quite jaded in my notions of love and how the whole deal works (as one can see from reading my older posts:-) However there have been two men in my life that have break those jaded notions in my mind...one of them of course lives in Ireland and the other was a young boy I fell in love with as a child. Now, can someone really fall in love as a teenager..I don't know...but I know that Jason Hall first introduced me to the idea of falling in love. For some reason I have been having some really vivid dreams this past week, and today I woke up after dreaming about Jason. I met Jason when I was 11 at 4-H Camp. We "dated" at camp..as much as kids can at that age..lol but it was over the years to follow that Jason from Letcher County would hold a piece of my heart. We kept in touch over the years...random meetings..and scattered phone calls. At one point I even found it necessary to "confess" my feelings (oh..I know me confess..never!). No boy in my middle school or high school years could hold a torch to Jason in my mind. And anyone who knew me..also knew about Jason from Jenkins. Looking back I not quite sure what it was but, you know there are just some people I think we meet throughout our life that we share some unique connection with for some reason..and Jason was one of those people for me. I don't know if as a young girl I ever looked up at night sky without wondering if he was looking at the same stars. It is all very silly looking back now that I am older..and really hard to explain. All I know is that Jason Hall was the first guy I loved. We might have grown to be close friends as I got older..however he died when he was 19. I found out from the local news. It was odd that I found out that way as less than a year before I nearly had a heart attack about hearing someone on the radio's obituary with the same name. One of the hardest things about my memories of him is that is all I have..I don't know anyone else who really knew him. Tonight I did a search and came across a blog entry about him. It was so great to read someone else's memories of him..and to see a local newspaper clipping about him. Talking about connections, I do believe that we have strong bonds with some people that we meet that are really hard to explain rationally. Case in point...I looked back at the clipping again and realized that today was the day he died years ago. I consciously did not recall the day he died..however the heart remembers what the head doesn't sometimes. I can't believe he would have been 30..but then again I can't believe I am 28 most days. I am thankful to have met Jason as a young girl and thankful for him teaching me how to love (even if I am slightly bitter and jaded and still single:-) As long as I am alive, I will always have memories of Jason Ryan Hall with me.