Chapter 13
W hen I was seventeen, my life changed forever.
As I walk the streets of Beaufort forty years later, thinking back on that year of my
life, I remember everything as clearly as if it were all still unfolding before my very eyes.
I remember Jamie saying yes to 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 needed to 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 didn’t
understand, and I had to make clear to them, was that I needed to do it for me.
I was in love with her, so deeply in love that I didn’t care if she was sick. I didn’t care
that we wouldn’t 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 wasn’t going to disobey.
I know that some of you may wonder if I was doing it out of pity. Some of the more
cynical may even wonder if I did it because she’d be gone soon anyway and I wasn’t
committing much. The answer to both questions is no. I would have married Jamie
Sullivan no matter what happened in the future. I would have married Jamie Sullivan if
the miracle I was praying for had suddenly come true. I knew it 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 become
the man I am today. With her steady hand she showed me how important it was to help
others; with her patience and kindness she showed me what life is really all about. Her
cheerfulness and optimism, even in times of sickness, was the most amazing thing I have
ever witnessed.
We were married by Hegbert in the Baptist church