Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Happy Birthday Jaime!!!


Happy birthday to my youngest today, Jaime Brooke Bain!!! It was March 20, 1979, the first day of spring, and it was raining cats and dogs! Jaime is the perfect example of God's sense of humor - we were not going to have any more children after Jenny (7) and David (5)....yeah, right!! I thought I had a really bad case of the flu or something.....the flu came 8 months later weighing 7 lbs, 5 oz with the biggest blue eyes you have ever seen. She is not unloved - just unplanned and I am glad God surprised us that wet spring day!

Jaime is sweet, easy-going, lovable, kind, self-sufficient, flexible and was definitely the easiest of the three to raise. She had to be....She was dragged from one thing to another, ate a million hot dogs at everyone's ball games, took naps in the back seat of the car and took the fall for many pranks and mischevious adventures of her sister but mostly her brother! She once was run over by David on the 4-wheeler and it broke her toe. She told me she ran into the curb barefooted because he threatened her if she told me the truth! After asking me for something once, David said, "no" and this 3-year-old responded with, David, you're not "a mother". He was griping one night, at one of my finer meals, at the dinner table that there wasn't a chicken leg left and she told him, "well tough; just eat a body"!! I even forgot her once at the church nursery one Wednesday night after choir and drove all the way home! She was 3 months old and I had gotten out of the "baby mode" and it simply slipped my mind that I had another child. My good friend, Trevelyn, brought her home to me! Jaime reminds me of this often when she wants something!

She always wanted to know "why is the 2nd act of this Christmas Pageant always about the Lord?" I asked her once what she thought God looked like and she said "He has dark hair, a beard and wears sandals and a cape"! Sounds like a gothic Superman. She also asked while eating her sandwich, "Does God like crust?" I told her yes (who knows?) "Well, I like God but I don't like crust"!! In the first grade, she came home and told me she got her name on the board because "when the teacher got really mad, she was going to count to 3 and she said "one" and I said "two"!!

Jaime took piano for about 3 months so we didn't have to endure a piano recital like the other two. She skipped ballet, gymnastics,(see cartwheel picture to understand why!), swim team, etc and went straight to basketball and softball. I loved every minute of it. I hung on the fence at a 100 ball parks across the nation and took 10,000 pictures. She became a pitcher because our team didn't have one and luckily she was really good. She only got beaned in the head a couple of times and in my loving way, if it wasn't bleeding too badly, I made her carry on. When she came home from school, we'd skip English, math and science homework to go pitch in the side yard; because I didn't have shin guards, my legs got beaned and now they look like the Battle of Gettysburg - I soon purchased some shin guards but it was too late.
She won most valuable pitcher at 10 years old and it continued through high school and ASA summer ball. She was All-Greater Houston her senior year and won Taylor MVP 4 years in a row. She was asked to play in college but she was tired of the life of skinned knees, funny tan lines and running around the country playing at wee hours of the morning. She once played in the state Regionals at the Baylor Baseball Park where Bill played. This picture is at that park with Jaime, Bill and his Baylor coach, Dutch Schroeder. I was sad she quit but she was ready to "move on". We had some great memories and laughs through all those years and we grew very close because of all the time we spent together. She also ran track, played volleyball and was on the THS basketball team 4 years. No wonder she was tired of it and ready to move on!!

She loved high school and had many friends. One of her best friends was Joy Keating and they are still close today - sharing memories and laughing and helping each other raise babies. They were on the winning powder puff football team. Jaime broke up this pass to help win but Joy was the star! She kicked a 30 yard field goal to win. Jaime was the "holder" and was scared to death!!










Several years later she graduated from Southwest Texas and started her teaching career. She has taught first grade and third grade and now understands why her mom/coach said the things she said to students and their parents, why she was always tired and why she was not at home much! After not having seen each other for several days, one night I found a note in the kitchen and it said, "Dear family, if you are still alive, I have gone to bed."

One of the most important parts of Jaime's life is her dog, Dexter, an 11 year old black lab that has lived with me for 9 years!! Now the most important parts of her life are husband Michael, a Nebraska Husker, and her one year old (almost) daughter, Keely!! She has big blue eyes just like Jaime and looks just like her baby pictures. I hope she grows up to be just as sweet and a great pitcher too! I'd like to hang on a few more fences before I go! I love you, Jaime! Thanks for being such a great daughter - You have brought us much joy!!!




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