When I was seventeen, my life ged forever.
As I walk the streets of Beaufort forty years later, thinking ba that year of my life, I remember everything as clearly as if it were all still unfolding before my very eyes.
I remember Jamie sayio my breathless question and how we both began to cry together. I remember talking to both Hegbert and my parents, explaining to them what I o do. They thought I was doing it only for Jamie, and all three of them tried to talk me out of it, especially when they realized that Jamie had said yes. What they didnt uand, and I had to make clear to them, was that I o do it for me.
I was in love with her, so deeply in love that I didnt care if she was sick. I didnt care that we wouldnt have long together. None of those things mattered to me. All I cared about was doing something that my heart had told me was the right thing to do. In my mind it was the first time God had ever spoken directly to me, and I knew with certainty that I wasnt going to disobey.
I know that some of you may wonder if I was doing it out of pity. Some of the more ical may even wonder if I did it because shed be gone soon anyway and I wasnt itting much. The ao both questions is no. I would have married Jamie Sullivan no matter what happened iure. I would have married Jamie Sullivan if the miracle I raying for had suddenly e true. I k at the moment I asked her, and I still know it today.
Jamie was more than just the woman I loved. In that year Jamie helped me bee the man I am today. With her steady hand she showed me how important it was to help others; with her patiend kindness she showed me what life is really all about. Her cheerfulness and optimism, even in times of siess, was the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed.
We were married by Hegbert in the Baptist church, my father standing beside me as the best man. That was ahing she did. In the South its a tradition to have your father beside you, but for me its a tradition that wouldnt have had much meaning before Jamie came into my life. Jamie had brought my father aogether again; somehow shed also mao heal some of the wounds between our two families. After what hed done for me and for Jamie, I knew in the end that my father was someone I could always t on, and as the years passed our relationship grew steadily stronger until his death.
Jamie also taught me the value of fiveness and the transf power that it offers. I realized this the day that Erid Margaret had e to her house.
Jamie held nes. Jamie led her life the way the Bible taught.
Jamie was not only the angel who saved Tom Thornton, she was the angel who saved us all.
Just as shed wahe church was bursting with people. Over two hundred guests were inside, and more than that waited outside the doors as we were married on March 12, 1959. Because we were married on such short notice, there wasnt time to make many arras, and people came out of the woodwork to make the day as special as they could, simply by showing up to support us. I saw everyone I knew-Miss Garber, Eric, Margaret, Eddie, Sally, Carey, Angela, and even Lew and his grandmother-and there wasnt a dry eye in the house wherance music began. Although Jamie was weak and hadnt moved from her bed in two weeks, she insisted on walking down the aisle so that her father could give her away. "Its very important to me, Landon," shed said. "Its part of my dream, remember?" Though I assumed it would be impossible,