Our Friend, Jamie

My wife and I enjoyed a vacation in California a full thirty years ago. (It is suddenly startling to think three decades have come and gone since that trip). We visited Monterey, San Francisco, Muir Woods, Yosemite National Park, and Sonora.

We passed through Sonora at lunchtime, and as a result, Jean and I decided we’d try the local Shoney’s buffet restaurant. As we walked in we noticed that the waitresses were outfitted in light blue, long-sleeved blouses, and dark green floor-length dresses; so much like the character in, “Anne of Green Gables.”

As we sat down, our waitress stepped up to our table, and it seemed to me that things were getting “curiouser and curioser.” For our twenty-some year old server, whom we quickly learned was named, “Jamie,” (not sure if we ever got a last name) was a close doppelganger for Megan Follows, the actress who portrayed Anne in that popular television series.

Of course, we inquired whether anyone had ever called the similarity to her attention. And she responded with a smile and a polite, “Well, not today,” and proceeded to take our orders. Having finished our meals, we left a generous tip for our momentary friend, walked out the door, got in our car and drove away.

I suppose we had driven a couple of miles when I looked at Jean and said,

“This might seem weird, but I’d like to go back and get a picture of Jamie. She looks so much like that television character, and it would be another nice memory of our trip.”

With this, my wife said she had been thinking much the same thing, and so I turned the car around and we went back to Shoney’s. Having arrived there, we went in, and explained to Jamie that we’d love to have a photo of her as a momento of our trip. She quickly acquiesced, suggested we walk out on the unenclosed front porch, and smiled for the picture. And with that, we thanked her, bid her farewell, and we were off.

In the intervening decades, I can’t begin to tell you how often we have reminisced about our trip, and more often than not referred to the now, almost 50 year old  Jamie, more than any other person or place.

“I wonder how she’s been doing?” (and) “Perhaps she’s married now.” (and) “I wonder how long she worked at that restaurant.” (and) “I wonder if she remembers us the way we remember her?”

While it is doubtful we will ever see our momentary acquaintance again in this life, we never cease to think of her, refer to her as a sort of long lost friend, and even pray for her. Oddly enough, she’s just never all that far from our minds.

Goodnight Jamie. Where ever you are.

 

By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "(Mc)Donald's Daily Diary" Vol. 7