Dude, Back Off!

Elijah and Hannah fight like dogs. Well...maybe fight is not the right word. They have differences and they push eachother's buttons all the time. Knowing the unique, problem free, relationship that I had with my sister growing up, it's always somewhat concerned me that the two of them are always bickering. Elijah will get in trouble with me and when I turn around, Hannah will stick her tongue out at him. Hannah will get yelled at for making a mess and Elijah will announce what her punishment will be. You know, things like that. Sometimes, in more quiet moments, the two of them will get along beautifully and play together for hours. These times are rare but give me hope that, when push comes to shove, they will be there for eachother.

Last weekend at the zoo, I witnessed something between the two of them that solidifies my belief that everything will be OK and shows me the love that exists between the two of them.

Abuela was visiting for a few days and we had a 75 degree day on Sunday and, along with a majority of Salt Lake City, decided to go to the zoo. We had a fantastic time walking the zoo and the weather was perfect. Towards the end, we decided to let the kids tire themselves out a bit by running around the park on the zoo grounds. They have all sorts of slides, monkey bars, etc. After about 30 minutes of them running all over the place, all three of them ended up at the big slide. There are about 25 steps to the top platform and then you sit in an enclosed slide down to the bottom. There were about 20 kids playing on it. I was at the very bottom of the slide so I could help Sadie to the ground when she came down each time.

I started to hear a ruckus coming from the top of the slide so I put my ear to the tube and could hear the conversation perfectly from the top, even though I could not see the top. The conversation was perfectly clear.

Hannah was complaining about a boy who was trying to push her away from the top of the slide. I heard her say, "Hey, stop it, it's my turn!" Then, Elijah...

"Dude, back off! Don't push my sister. Let her in. It's her turn. You're not being nice right now."

Then I heard a little scuffle and Elijah said, "Go ahead Hannah, you can slide down now."

Hannah: "Elijah, I'm scared. Will you hold my hand?"

Elijah: "Sure, sit down in front of me and we will go down together."

Next thing I see is the two of them arriving at the bottom together. It nearly brought tears to my eyes.

The best part is that he had no clue that I had heard what happened. He wasn't playing up for me or trying to prove anything. It was real. He was standing up for Hannah!

I took Elijah aside when they got to the bottom. I told him I heard what happened and that I was proud of him. I think he learned a great deal about what's important right then and there.

Hannah was on cloud nine. She told us how Elijah saved her life from a mean boy. Wait until you see the video I posted tonight. Click over on the right to the pics and vids site and watch it. You will absolutely melt at what Hannah says.

Meanwhile - today is Passover and we spent a nice night at the Bauman's house. Elijah is thrilled that I bought tickets to the Poison concert here for July 3rd. It will be Elijah's first ever rock concert and he can't stop talking about it. Anyway - there is a very funny video of him playing Bret Michaels of Poison that I took tonight on the vids page so be sure to catch that.

Finally - and I was reluctant to post this picture, but what the heck. We had a mustache contest in my office and Mom was here to help judge the finals last Friday. For the first time in 13 years, I shaved my beard. I came in second place but I think I looked kinda hot, don't you?

Deep Thoughts

Sadie, in the car the other day...

"Daddy!!! I wanna ak-s you somfink!!! DADDY!!! I wanna ak-s you somfink!!!!"

"OK, Sadie..go ahead and ask me."

"DADDY DADDY DADDY!!! Please!! I wanna ak-s you somfink!!!"

"Sadie, my precious, I am listening. Go ahead and ask me!"

"OK. What are you finking about?"

"I am thinking about how much I love you!"

"NO DADDY!! What are you finking about???"

"I mean it! I am really really thinking about how much I love you!!"

"OK"

"Sadie, can I ask you something?"

"Mmmm K"

"What are YOU thinking about?"

15 second pause....

"Cheese"

Alyssa

December 29, 1995.....The Coastline.....Cherry Hill, NJ.....sometime around 9:00pm...........

I am wandering the bar as usual, as my roomate Kenny is hooking up left and right with all of the best looking women in the place. It was my duty as his friend and roomate to hit the bars on Fridays and Saturdays. The scenario was always the same; he would bring one home and I would chat on the internet all night. Sometime around 7:00am, I would hear the apartment door open and close, then peek through the blinds to watch her get in her car and drive away. Shortly thereafter, Kenny would emerge from his room and eat breakfast. He would tell me he forgot her name and I would tell him I found a cool new page on AOL to check out. Fun for me, huh?

Anyway, on this particular night, we were at the bar with my friend Evan. One one side of the bar, Evan is engaged in chat with some random woman and I am standing against the wall, sipping my vodka cranberry. Before I know it, Evan approaches me with this woman and she quicky announces herself as my friend from high school. I recognize her...it's Alyssa Rubin. I remember her because I had a massive crush on her at some point. She looked good. She's fast-talking to me about how she wants me to meet this great girl who's her best friend in the world and would I PLEASE talk to her NOW. Then she starts pulling me across the room. We stop and she proceeds to make an introduction.....

"Jordan, this is Debbie....."

I wrote Deb's phone number down on a napkin. Our first date was January 5th, 1996. We were married two years later.

Alyssa Rubin introduced us.

Two weeks ago, Alyssa passed away after suffering a massive heart attack in her home in North Carolina. It's just three weeks before our tenth wedding anniversary. She was only 40 years old.

This is one of the heaviest posts I've ever made in Jawdy's Basement. I really don't quite know what to say....

Alyssa was married shortly after her famous introduction. She married Tom Bass in a Rabbi's apartment in Cherry Hill. Deb and I were the only witnesses. Alyssa and Tom had two beautiful daughters together, Lily and Ava. Lily is Deb's god-daughter. She's eight years old now. Ava is just five.

We had Tom and Alyssa over often so the kids could play together. We called them "T&A". We had dinner parties, played Hearts into the night, celebrated New Years, etc... Lily was Elijah's first friend - she was born six weeks before him.

It's very sad that Alyssa and Deb had recently lost touch. After their move to North Carolina, she seemed to disappear from most of our lives. Some of her best friends had not heard much from her and it was not uncommon for one of us to say, "I wonder how Alyssa is doing..." It's makes it far more sad to know that Deb never had a chance to say goodbye or even catch up to someone who was really her best friend for three of the most difficult years of her life. Deb has said more than once that Alyssa "saved" her from a very dark time in the early nineties. Deb was in a very destructive relationship and Alyssa was the voice of reason. They were inseperable for three years before Alyssa introduced us.

The truth is that there would be no Jordan and Debbie. There would be no Elijah, Hannah and Sadie if Alyssa Rubin Bass had not noticed Evan in the Coastline that night. If she had not literally dragged me to where Deb was standing and so loudly introduced us....who knows where we would be today. She is the reason why our lives have travelled this road for over twelve years. And now she's gone.

I remember one special moment that occurred at our wedding. I snuck up behind Alyssa at her table and whispered in her ear that the celebration was all because of her. I thanked her for being in the right place at the right time and she said something about fate. She always had something to say about fate. She was very spiritual and she felt she had a clear vision of what the future held for everyone. Deb always believed her during the "dark days" because Alyssa insisted that she would meet someone special that would change her life and that she would be happy. She told Deb that she would have three children with this man. Deb made it through those days clinging to the hope that Alyssa's vision would be true. It was.

I'll be forever indebted to you, Alyssa. I know you are seeing this where you are right now. You were the very first regular reader of the original Deuce Daily newsletter before it became this blog. You used to e-mail me and complain when I would go too long without posting. I know you have the site bookmarked up there. When I've looked at our children these last few days, I could not help but think what life would be like if we hadn't produced them. We have you to thank for them. You were our angel. Rest in peace.