Christmas Memories

Christmas was Jim's favorite holiday (Halloween took a close second while growing up) and he was deeply missed today as we celebrated. I had some time this morning to remember some of the many Christmas's that I spent with Jim and could easily remember the excitement of Christmas morning. Jim was a true believer. When he asked as was told about Santa, he refused to believe truth and prefered to continue on with the Santa tradition. I, on the other hand, didn't care as long as I still got presents!

Jim and I would wake up on Christmas morning and like all kids would be so excited. We would wake our parents... who were very slow to get up. Many years I remember we had to wait at the top of the stairs while our parents when down and got things ready. My dad had to make a fire, maybe prepare a little breakfast... basically torture us for a while. When we were finally told we could come down we raced down as fast as we could.

I have been told that when Jim was little he was the slowest unwrapper out there. He would open a present and then have to have take it out of the box and play with it for a while... he was satisfied that he got something he liked and just wanted to play with it, forgetting he had more to open. That changed, of course, as he got older. I remember many times ripping through our presents as fast as we could. Jim would always be very excited with almost everything he got, with the exception of the clothes that always seemed to end up under the tree! After presents we always did stockings last.

For at least one year, maybe more, I remember Jim going to the extreme of setting his alarm clock so that he would wake up right at the time that we were told it was okay to wake our parents. The only problem was that my dad went in and turned off his alarm after he was asleep!

As we got older we also starting the tradition of having some close family friends over for dinner on Christmas day. By then Jim and I would have all of our new things lined up and ready to show them, careful to make sure that we showed them everything.

Today I spend the day at my mom's with some family friends and we had a very nice time. While Jim wasn't always home at Christmas time he was still very much missed today. This is a rough time of year, as I am sure that it is for anyone who has lost someone they love. For us it is compounded by the fact that Jim's birthday is fast approaching. This year we will spend Jim's birthday surrounded by his many friends in Las Vegas. It is a trip that we are very much looking forward to and one that we very much wish that we weren't making under these circumstances.

I love you Jim, Merry Christmas.

December 11, 2008 - 8 months

I was 27 years old when Jim was born; he was 27 when he died. I would have become pregnant with him on or about April 11th, 1980; 9 months later on January 11, 1981 I gave birth to him. On January 11, 2009 he will have been gone 9 months, having passed away on April 11, 2008. Now we measure time by the minutes, hours, days, weeks and months that Jim is no longer with us....

Today is the 8 month anniversary of Jim's death. It feels like the 'window of opportunity' to discover something significant in the murder of my son has come and gone in the blink of an eye as the Detectives know as much today as they did 8 months ago.

I thank those of you who continue to check this site and blog and those of you who have written Nancy Grace. Maybe together we can get some answers.

Love, Joanne
Jim's Forever MOM

Thank you and keep up the help!

Thank you to everyone who has joined to help us get Jim's case some much needed publicity! We have been overwhelmed by the number of people willing to help and it means so much to us. (See post below for info on our effort to get on Nancy Grace... if you haven't done that yet, please consider doing that as well!)

Thanks to my cousin, I have a few more email address to add to the list if you want to keep helping. They are listed below and if you could just send a quick email telling them that you would like to see Jim's case televised that would be so hopeful.

friends@foxnews.com
oreilly@foxnews.com
ontherecord@foxnews.com

I have also contacted Greta Van Susteren's producer and would love to get them interested in Jim's case as well.

Someone out there knows what happened to Jim... more then likely more then one person knows and all it takes is for them to have the courage to speak up. Even the smallest of detail could mean the difference in bringing Justice for Jim.

Julie

Help us help Jim!!

Help us get Jim's case some much needed publicity, we are tired of waiting around and getting no where!! We would love to have Jim's case shown on CNN's Nancy Grace show and we need your help to contact the show and let them know you too want to see Jim's case televised. All we are asking is to take 5 minutes and go to http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?81 to tell them you want Jim's case on the show.

You can say anything you want about Jim, just let them know that he was a wonderful guy who didn't deserve this and his murderer needs to be found. You can give them this website(www.justiceforjim.com) as well as the Miami Crime Stoppers website where Jim's case was recently posted - that link is http://www.crimestoppersmiami.com//unsolved.aspx - he is the second case on the site.

Please feel free to pass this on to anyone who we could have missed.

Thank you so much, we really appreciate all of the support that we have received through all of this!

Julie

A message from Jim's cousin, Tami

I think about you every day and wonder how we can go on NOT KNOWING what happened. You SOOOOO did not deserve this. I keep your picture up on my computer and look at it all the time. I have such WONDERFUL memories!! I will NEVER forget them or YOU! You are GREATLY missed!!! When I see you in heaven be prepared for TONS of HUGS!

LOVE YOU!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has come and gone with no usual phone call from Jim. While he was generally not home for Thanksgiving, we would have talked to him and known his plans for the day. As is always the case, Jim was not far from our minds while we had the usual Thanksgiving day feast that this year included one of Jim's favorites, rice krispie treats. I made sure to have an extra as he would have done. I don't think that I can pass a rice krispie treat without thinking of Jim. In fact I remember that it seems just like yesterday that my daughter and I were making a batch to send to him in Florida. I included lots of pictures of her making them for him, pictures that we found in his stuff at his apartment. I remember him calling after getting them in the mail and telling me that they didn't even make it 24 hours before he had eaten them all!

This year we spent the day being thankful for what we have now, while remembering what we did have while Jim was with us. We are very thankful for the many friends and family that have supported us through the past 7.5 months, I know that I couldn't have done it without so much support. As Christmas and Jim's birthday approach we are facing more tough moments, however I am sure that Jim will be there with us guiding us through and making sure that we find ways to make new memories while honoring the old.

In a couple of weeks my mom and I will be going to a candle lighting ceremony to honor children of all ages who have gone to soon. Jim's name will be read and a ornament will be place on a tree for him. No doubt this will be a tough night, however I am looking forward to having one more way to honor Jim's memory.

We love and miss you Jim!

Julie

Ongoing

Sometimes I think I'm just standing here wringing my hands endlessly. I feel like I do nothing, probably because I do nothing. I am frustrated, unhappy, sad, emotional and damn tired of this whole thing. I know it will never change and I will always be in some form of this state - supreme discontent. I can not believe this has happened; I can not even comprehend the why. Who desires to kill? Who wanted Jim to die? What possesses someone to be so evil?

I miss you so very, very much Jim. I love you.