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For months after Jamie died, the only memories that my mind was able to focus on were very recent ones. Maybe because I couldn’t or can’t comprehend how someone who is with you, talking to you, calling you, emailing you one day, can just be gone the next.

Jamie and I talked pretty much every day, even if we were both very busy and it was only for two minutes. I miss our back and forth banter with each other. I miss everything about our friendship. I’ve become obsessed with finding any and all email exchanges we had over the years, as finding even the smallest, seemingly non-important email exchange, somehow brings me a little piece of her, or of us. This is one of our last email exchanges. It makes me smile and of course, cry, but it’s very “us” type of communication, and I suppose that’s why I can’t help but read it over and over again and try to hold on like hell to my last memories of her.

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As I (Regan Teti Marscher) told Maureen at Jamie’s service – Jamie exists at the very root of my soul. We literally “grew up” together in middle school and then high school.

Although we knew each other already, Jamie and I first really connected at Camp Tockwogh in MD the summer before 8th grade. We were in the same cabin and I remember us being so comfortable around each other. We both LOVED the Little Mermaid which was recently released. I have a vivid memory of the two of us at the side of the camp pool pretending to be Ariel when she bursts out of the water during a reprise of “Part of Your World” . We then continued showing off that little stunt at many pool parties to come We also loved what a goofball Ariel’s friend Scuttle the sea gull was and we loved to imitate him. “Woah what a swim!” Now as my two little girls watch the movie I can’t help but think of Jamie and I being goofy at the poolside.

As we continued through middle school Ariel was replaced by another red head, Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. We both loved the love story and would tell each other “Take Care of You” as the two girlfriends said to each other. And in West Side Story we would cry because Antonio and Maria couldn’t be together. We seemed to really bond over movies where the lovers had a serious challenge to overcome. Continue Reading →

Picture Above (Andrew, Terese, Kim, Jamie)

I (Andrew Cosentino) first met Jamie while working for Elyse Connolly in NYC during my senior year of college. Elyse had a very good friend at Sarah Lawrence College (where Jamie went) who recommended Jamie to work for Elyse as an assistant / producer. I was a bit hesitant about it, being the only guy in the office. But to my happiness, Jamie turned out to be a breath of fresh air. We got along quite well from the beginning. She had the same sense of humor I had. I soon learned we had a lot of interests in common…love of sports (fans of the Yankees, Giants and Rangers), love of family and friends and a strong work ethic. She made work fun. Days when she wasn’t there were noticeably different and stagnant. I feel I need to thank the powers that be that had me end up at Elyse’s office and at the same time that Jamie joined. Had I not, I feel I would’ve missed out on some of the most unique parts of my life. I deeply cherish the times we would stay at Elyse’s and open a bottle of wine or go to a bar after work and just talk…for hours. Jamie was the perfect person to talk to. She was so intelligent, so well versed, so insightful. Countless discussions about life, death, people, family, situations, food, ect. I felt she always had my back, but she’d be the first to speak her mind and put you in place if need be. Continue Reading →

I (Kennette Bryant) met Jamie for the first time about 9 years ago when she and Maureen came to San Diego as a stop on their cross country road trip. Dan had grown up with my husband Barry La Forgia and was Uncle Barry to their kids.

My first memory of Jamie is her walking around the hallway corner of our home, smile first. It was love at first sight with this young woman of dreams, hopes, struggles, and an honesty about who she was (good and bad). She was a year younger than my eldest son so there was a generational gap. But, Jamie taught me so much on the many levels that I learned age mattered little with friends. Her youthful perspective widened mine. I hope that in turn I did not drive her too crazy with my maternal advice and over protectiveness. You see, she lived with us for a time, and after moving out we still felt we were there to watch over her. She honored us by referring to us as her West Coast Parents.

Jamie brought us so much laughter, humor, passion and joy. We spent hours chatting over life’s meaning, wonderful authors, travels and its lessons, relationships. We struggled when she struggled and longed so desperately to see her fulfilled. Nothing delighted me more than watching her and Barry watching sports, yelling, cursing, drinking and laughing. No one appreciated Barr’s silly puns like Jamie could. She loved her safe cocoon at our home and then her small place in Del Mar, and when it was time to leave and blossom, she did it fully. Her friends in San Diego became steadfast, lifelong ones and they will all attest that when she accepted you in her heart, she never let you go willingly. It was so hard to watch her move back to New York, but I have never bid farewell to anyone with more anticipation and hope. She deserved so much more than she could find on the West Coast. Though she was always open to love and career path, she was certain that she would never find all she longed for. Continue Reading →

Picture Above (Andrew, Jamie, and Terese)

I (Terese) met Jamie through my boyfriend, Andrew, who was a close friend and coworker (with Elyse Connolly) of hers. I was very anxious to meet her, as Andrew said we were very similar and we’d hit it off. We tried a few times while she was living in Brooklyn, us in Queens, to get together but it never happened. Then early in 2003 we went to California to visit my family who lives in San Diego. Andrew and I met up with Jamie at a great Mexican place in Del Mar called En Fuego. We sat at the bar for a drink and some apps and ended up staying for hours, laughing, drinking, sharing stories. We bonded over our love for travel, taking pictures, Audrey Hepburn, how close we were with our family, the NY Yankees, our angst about what to make of our lives, our goal of being a successful working woman yet wanting a family more than anything, loving to talk (Andrew loved this, lol) and so on. Later on, Jamie and I would joke that it was like a successful first date for friends! We went on to see Jamie a couple of more times while she lived in California and when she came back to New York, we were able to get together a few times just hanging at our apartment, going for dinner or just drinking some wine and even fitting in a couple of Yankees games.

Really though, our friendship was one mostly by phone and email. Eventually Jamie and I talked more than Andrew and Jamie did. Sometimes I’d be on the phone with her and then pass news along or a funny story Jamie just told me and he’d say, why doesn’t she tell me this or that and she’d laugh and say through the phone, tell him to call me! Hearing Jamie’s voice, whether it be me that called her or her that called me, she’d say, HEY GIRL!, and our conversations would begin. Continue Reading →

Picture Above (Jamie left, Casey right) – The four of us were having too much fun to take pictures together, but I was able to find this shot from a video I took at John and Larkin’s 1st birthday.

My (Casey Tremewan) family moved to North Carolina from San Francisco in October of 2010. Our move was a leap of faith, in that we had no jobs, no daycare lined up; we moved into rental house that we had never seen before and although we a few acquaintances, we had no friends. Our gamble slowly began to pay off as we settled into our new lives. In February of 2011 my parents invited us to a dinner at their friends, the Kindem’s, house. They mentioned that there would be another couple there, the couple had just had twins. We were somewhat weary of this “set-up” but weren’t in a position to picky about meeting others.

We had a great time that night. I remember the instant connection between me and Bret and Paul and Jamie. I was thrilled to spend time holding John, so tiny at the time. Bret and I got home that night and commented on how great the whole family was. The next day Jamie friended me on Facebook. I remember the childish happiness that I felt when I “confirmed” her, I was so happy because it meant that they liked us too!

Soon after we began the periodic tradition of getting together on Saturday afternoons at Jamie and Paul’s house. It was always easiest for us to go to them, since our son was 3+ and we only had the one. It did not take long for us to fall into a predictable pattern – Continue Reading →

Picture Above (Jamie, Victor, Michelle, and Paul)

“Thank you for being a friend”. This was our favorite theme song. We used to sing it together at family gatherings in our grandparents’ bedroom at their house in Nutley, NJ when “The Golden Girls” came on TV as our parents socialized downstairs. “Your heart is true, you’re a pal and a confidante.”

Jamie was also my 1st business partner. One morning, after a sleepover at her home in Berwyn, PA, we opened “The Josie Inn”, named after our deceased grandmother, Josephine O’Brien. We crafted a sign and our come-on line was “Come on in to The Josie Inn”! Clever, right?!

We franchised a 2nd location at my Aunt Maureen and Uncle Danny’s country house in Rhinebeck, NY, but unfortunately, it wasn’t quite the success. In fact, we nearly set the entire house on fire by cracking several eggs directly into the toaster. Double-trouble – that we were! Continue Reading →

Jamie was the young woman, the beloved older cousin, that I (Katie) admired, idolized and adored for as long as I can remember. From watching her with my mouth agape as she sang every last word to Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” when she was about 11; to watching awe-struck as she performed the coolest dance I’d ever seen to Madonna’s “Vogue” on a home video when she was 14; to assuming her exact positions (supine, hands crossed on our bellies, then rotating every 20 minutes) on a beach towel and listening to Bob Marley coming from her headphones as her tan skin glistened like gold when she was 16; to hearing her say that Dove soap was the best (and still buying only Dove soap to this day); to marveling at her nerve as she swiped her parent’s credit card on a $60 bikini with a wink, saying she’d get around to telling them about it later; to observing her loving interactions with our grandparents and feeling a twinge of jealousy, wishing that I had shared the same amazing closeness with them as she did; to watching her dominate the competition in a high school soccer game; to witnessing the willpower involved in going for a run every morning on Thanksgiving break; to seeing her scream at the TV while watching football and confess her crush on Peyton Manning; to dutifully tasting Grape Nuts over and over again, trying to develop a taste for them because it happened to be her breakfast cereal of choice; to looking forward to making cranberry salad every year because that meant one-on-one time with her in the kitchen; to attempting to mimic the way she used her fingers in conversation and drank from a glass bottle; to openly bragging to my friends about her adventurous spirit when she opted to study abroad in Florence, Italy. Continue Reading →