Jason - The Story (Part 1)

Most of my readers don't know who I am. The only person (that I know of) that I actually "know" that reads this is my husband. I intended on doing this post yesterday, which would have lead up to today's events, but well, I didn't. So there. :0)

We moved to Oklahoma 9 years ago....June 3rd, 2003 to be exact. All due to my husband transferring through his job. It wasn't a necessary move, but we were young, naive, and had two small children (Great combination, right?), and thought - why not? I can find a job in Oklahoma, I could go to school in Oklahoma, etc. It ended up being the perfect time to make a transition as our kids hadn't started school yet. (Our son was just about enter into Kindergarten, so it all worked out.)

Fast forward to the Spring of that school year...around April/May 2004....Tyler's birthday is this time of year. we decided to do a party at the local Pizza Hut and then we invited a few of the boys over for a sleepover. (Boys don't call them slumber parties - ha!)

One of the boys didn't make it to the Pizza Party, but his mom called around 9:00p.m. and asked if he could still come over. I said sure...bring him on over. The party ended well and everyone went home early the next day, except for Jason. Jason stayed. It was into the evening on Sunday that we finally were able to get Jason home. 

From that point on Jason became a frequent visitor of our house. Every weekend he would call for Tyler, asking if he (Jason) could come over to our house. 

All of a sudden we stopped hearing from Jason. Jason had been transferred to a different school at the request of his parents, as they were going to hold him back in Kindergarten. We didn't hear from Jason for a year or two. 

Then one day Jason started calling again. Asking to come over. The weekends were always full of Jason. From Friday evening well into Sunday evening. His parents never checked up on him or anything. One Sunday evening we went to take him home and his parents weren't there. We had to take him home on Monday morning, before school, because his mom and dad never showed up. Never called. 

This became a pretty regular thing. Jason every weekend. Jason for a week at a time in the Summer. Jason this. Jason that. He was a great kid. He never caused us problems and he loved playing with our kids. He smiled and played and laughed.

Tyler and Jason decided to play youth football one summer. Practices everyday of the week and sometimes weekends. We had to pick Jason up and drop him off every day. One day I said to my husband, jokingly. "Maybe Jason should just live with us. He is here all of the time anyway." 

A few weeks later my husband was traveling out of town for work and I had to pick up Jason for football practice....alone. I was scared. His family lived a "rough" lifestyle in the "rough" part of town. I was just uneasy the entire time. I get to his house and open up the door for Jason and his football gear and his mom comes up to me and says "So I hear you want Jason to live with you." I said, "well, Scott and I were just joking about it, because Jason is at our house a lot. However, we do know that there is stuff going on at home with you and his dad...." She didn't hesitate for a second and said "I think it's a great idea, but my mom (Jason's grandmother), doesn't think it's such a good idea." I said "We would love for Jason to come stay with us." She said, "Great! I will bring his clothes over later this evening when you get home from football practice." 

A few hours later, she comes to our doorstep with her son and a plastic bag with his belongings inside. His belongings consisted of a pair of boxers, a pair of shorts, and a couple of shirts. The shoes he wore to our house weren't his and he had to give them back upon arriving at our house.

Mind you, we were two or three days away from school starting and this boy had nothing.....nothing to get him ready for school. No supplies, no clothes....nothing. Just a plastic bag with few belongings....and a toothy smile.

To be continued.......