Many friends have sent emails and a lot of readers have left comments on JimandJamie.com asking, “What happened? Where are you guys? Why did you suddenly stop blogging after you arrived in Australia?”
Well, we suppose it’s about time to answer those questions.
Unfortunately, Jamie’s dad, Bill Dawson, passed away in early November. She flew back to California as soon as she found out he was ill, and, luckily, got there before he died, and then spent the next couple weeks with her mom.
Dawson was definitely one of a kind. I can’t say we always saw eye to eye, but I surely appreciated everything he did for Jamie. He was, in reality, her stepfather, but she thought of him as her real father. He came into her life at a time when she was drifting, without any real goals, and quickly became her biggest fan. He encouraged her to make something of herself and paid her way through college to help her do that. She called him every week — from wherever we were in the world — to make weekly bets on NFL games. They were as close as any father and daughter could possibly be, so losing him leaves a huge hole in Jamie’s life.
She arrived back here in Angaston, South Australia in mid-November, but we’ve decided that it just doesn’t feel right to resume blogging about all the fun we’re having, nor, under the circumstances, to show happy, smiling photos of ourselves.
So in honor of Dawson, we decided to bring JimandJamie.com to an early, but appropriate close.
We’ll be here in the Barossa Valley until the end of January, and then we’ll be back home in McKinney in early February.
Until then, bon voyage. And bon voyage to you, too, Dawson.