Heather and Jari

Lennon & McCartney. Laverne & Shirley. Bono & The Edge. Bonnie & Clyde.



Heather & Jari.



Some people are just meant to be friends. There's a certain synergy and energy that happens when they're together. Heather and Jari were one such pair. They orbited a bit further from me. They had their own shoebox of an apartment off the main "Compound." Heather was at the pre-school a lot of the time or toiling away at the Herculean task of putting together four years worth of yearbook. Jari taught over in the 1st/2nd classroom and our paths didn't cross except for when I needed the keys to the supply closet. But even from my distant place in the solar system of the SDA School we could tell they had a special friendship. And like the gravity of the distant sun, I felt the effects of their work at the SDA School too.



I saw the tears in the eyes of Jari's students, not just on the last day of school but a couple of days before school got out and I knew that they loved her and she had loved them. I heard stories of Jari's involvement, along with Layla, in Pathfinders, meeting with the kids every Sunday afternoon. I can hold in my hands the evidence of Heather's commitment--a beautifully hefty school annual that cobbled together in one volume the unfinished work of three years of yearbook attempts in addition to this year's edition. I watched her working with love and patience with her pre-school students at their graduation.



I wasn't as close to Heather and Jari as I was to some of the other teachers, but I know this--every time I talked to Heather we always laughed, and every time I came across Jari, she always made me feel like we were in the trenches together-up way too early in the morning, but hanging in and doing our best. I'm not sure they'll ever even know this blog was posted about them, but if they ever do happen to stumble across this entry I want them both to know that they were loved, appreciated, that they made a difference. The All Stars wouldn't be the same without the constellation they call Heather & Jari.

Below a few pictures taken at various airport farewells including their own.


Heather

Jari

At Heather & Jari's departure. We met at the airport at 2:00 A.M. on Tuesday, July 5. Actually we went to the airport the night before to see Jari off. She was to fly to Guam, wait in the airport overnight and then take the same 6:00 A.M. flight from Guam to Houston that Heather was scheduled to be on. Not wanting to spend all night in Guam, Jari tried to get switched to Heather's flight and was successful. So, we all went back home and went to bed and got up again a few hours later to see them both leave together.

Heather with her co-teacher at Pre-School, Shirley Digma

Heather and Me. I can guarantee she probably just said something that made me smile. She's cool like that.


Heather & Jari take "The Long Walk"