Life On St. Croix

Jared was excited and nervous and scared all in one.  Can't say he was the only one.  He was was leaving his friends and the only school he had ever attended to move to an island.  He loved the island but still it was an island.  He loved the Caribbean and was looking forward to attending college at UVI.  On October 19, 2013 Jared, Poco and I boarded a plane and headed for St. Croix.  We had finished the loose ends and Jared spent lots of time with his friends saying goodbye.  We would go shopping for things we knew we would need but being safe with it too because it had to go in our suitcases.  Which we ended up buying 4 additional to get things moved here.  He was such a young man.  He helped with Poco who was taking his first plane ride and we enjoyed our mother/son time together.  When we arrived Jared quickly was taking pictures of everything and updating his facebook cover with those pictures.  We were picked up at the airport by Rich and Brent who had come days before because they had driven our pickup to Florida to be shipped down. They were in a Yaris....funny if you know what one is.  It was all we could do to get in the car with the luggage.  We arrived at the house for the first time and Poco was like a child on Christmas morning running from room to room checking everything out.  Jared was excited he had a room with its' own balcony.  He spent a great deal of time sitting on that balcony doing homework, talking to friends and getting tan.
Jared and I went to Manor School where he would attend to visit and get things lined out for what he would need.  He would now be wearing "uniforms".  White Polo shirt and Black pants.  It was an adjustment but more than anything he had to adjust to being one of five kids in his class.  Over time Jared and Manor School became "unfit".  That is not a good fit any longer.  He was transferred to Good Hope Country Day for fourth quarter.  He enjoyed it because now he was in a class of almost 60 students.  The school had much more to offer and he was already friends with many of the kids.
Jared quickly became social...Surprise I know.  Within the first few days of being here we went to dinner and before we left he had a job as a busser/bar back.  He had used his money from the sale of the Jeep in Tennessee and bought a Blazer.  He was back in the swing of things.  He quickly made friends and enjoyed everything about being here.  EXCEPT, he did not have his friends back in Tennessee.  They kept in contact through social media, texting, and video chatting.
As he became more and more involved in soccer his work schedule became more cumbersome so we encouraged him to look elsewhere. We had met a gentleman from Tennessee at our usual hang out and he told Jared to apply at Angry Nates they were looking for a busser.  He got the job and really enjoyed it as he was right there on the Boardwalk with all the action.  By this time he also had his scooter.  So on $5.00 worth of gas he could run the whole week.
Jared had 3 scooter accidents on the island.  The first one was a week into ownership.  It was enough to scare him.  He hit a pothole (which are giant here) and lost control in the grass.  He did no damage but scuffed his scooter.  The second was a bit more when he was coming home from Shrek the Musical at GHCDS and hit a patch of gravel in an area he shouldn't have been in at an intersection.  This taught him to stay away from areas he shouldn't be in.  The third was in April when he laid it down to avoid a serious accident that was taken place in front of him with a drunk driver crossing the center line and totally the pickup in front of him that was being driven by a friend as they were on their way home from a soccer game.  This one I took him to the hospital to have him checked out.  He was ok...thankfully but we joked and I let him know I wasn't mad at him.
Jared made lots of friends here on the island.  He helped out at the Iron Man Competition, Reef Jam and many other events.  He met country music writers and singers who visited the island from Nashville and they quickly struck up conversations about people they knew in common.  He had a great network of friends here both teen and adult.  Everyone loved him.  People on the island still can't believe he is gone.  Neither can I.
In a short amount of time he experienced everything here he could.  He kayaked the Salt River Mangroves and Bio Bay, he hiked trying to get to the Tide Pools, he swam in the ocean, hunted Lion Fish, dove with Rich, tubed with friends at Buck Island, Pier Jumped, snorkeled with Brent, and many more things.
I love him and miss him so much.
Jared played on 5 soccer teams.  One of them being the Men's National Team.  He was excited to play with whoever, he just wanted to play.  He had great coaches and teammates.  He played for his high school and for an indoor league and travel team.  He also mentored and coached other kids on the island on becoming a goalie.
I know he loved his Dad and he missed him terribly.  I also know that the emptiness of that loss along with a post on his Dad's Facebook account on June 12th was just more than he could handle.  While I wish he would have reached out to his therapist or to us or to friends here on the island or stateside, I know that he is in a better place with no more pain of being torn between a mother he loved with all his heart and grandparents and an aunt who hated me more than they loved Jared.

I hope that if you are reading this blog, as I know over 10,000 different visitors are, and you are in a situation that has a child that has two homes don't make them broken, just separate.  It is ok to allow others to love your child(ren) and not think they will not love you.  I was honored that others loved Jared.  His dad didn't give Jared the choice of families he would ultimately make him a part of, but I am glad they (all of them) loved Jared.
Jared's ex-step-mother, half brother, and ex-step grandparents attended his service in Illinois.  It warmed my heart and I know that Jared was smiling down on that.  I had been told no one from his Dad's side of the family would be attending as they had a previous engagement so I didn't have seating set up for them.  However, when they came in, I made sure seats were moved to the front row with us.  I made sure they had all the time they needed with Jared and let them know if the brother needed any special time to let me know and we would make it happen.  I know Jared always wanted peace in his life.  He now has it....unfortunately it had to be this way to get it.