“I’m too sexy…”
Our (Stacey & Tom Kindem) story about Jamie starts at the very beginning. It isn’t a story that elicits excitement. However, it is one of those moments you keep going back to over and over again. It was during Jamie’s first and last vacation to Amy Belle Lake and our last vacation there as an entire family over the Fourth of July weekend in 2007. Prior to meeting Jamie, we knew very little about her. All we knew is that Paul & Jamie had met two months previous at a wedding in Mexico and had already spent a week in London together. We knew it was serious if she was coming to spend a week with all of us in tight quarters. And by tight quarters, I truly mean, tight quarters. Most people would have been intimidated by meeting the entire family. But Jamie wasn’t. Or at least she didn’t let it show. She showed up with two huge desserts from NYC. How she managed to get through the TSA scanners I’ll never know. Paul had prepared her well. The one sure way to get into the Kindems’ good graces was through food.
What I remember most about that week is how quickly she fit into the family. It was as though the role had been waiting just for Jamie. The shift was seamless. We went from a family waiting for Paul to find the perfect girl. To a family complete. The week was full of many events. Starting with daily trips into the lake, visiting the Miller Brewery Tour, and an art museum in the heart of Milwaukee. Each day ended by us gathering around the dinner table eating fabulous meals followed by drinks around the Kindem boy’s traditional camp fire.
Tom also remembers a specific trip to a speakeasy in or near Milwaukee. His rendition of the events go something like this…Jamie had secured admittance into the speakeasy with her quick googling for a password. Upon admittance, Jamie was whisked away downstairs. What happens next makes me smile. Because it is hard to believe. And yet, so Jamie! He says, the next thing you hear is the song, “I’m too sexy for this shirt” playing in the back ground. When all of the sudden, a tv starts to show men dancing in the nude as Jamie is lifted up from the basement on a chair tied up. Of course, she’s all kinds of embarrassed but also glowing with the classic Jamie smile. Wish I could have been there for that one.
The trip ended as quickly as it had begun. We all left and went our separate ways. But both Tom and I knew we’d one day be at their wedding. It was one of those things you knew when you saw Jamie and Paul together. And we were so glad we were right!
Stacey & Tom Kindem