Several times, he went to spend the night with one of his friends, only to call us or be brought home by the parents. He wasn't ready to spend the night away from the safety of his home. He was really shy until he hit the 6th grade. Then there was no holding him back.
Jesse became a very outspoken person. He made friends very easily and everyone like him. He was very well mannered and his teachers, his friend's parents and our friends often commented on what a polite boy he was. Even when there was just the 3 of us around, there were always please's and thank you's. Jesse carried that with him till the day he died.
School was great for Jess and he always did well. Right up until he hit the 7th grade. Then school was just a social outlet for him. This was all about the time, that he noticed that girls weren't so yucky after all. The phone would ring off the hook. We finally quit answering it if he was home, because the calls were always for him. Usually a girl. Jesse loved music. Especially Rap. He was very talented at flowing, as they call it. He had been approached by a local to do some studio recording, but never got the chance to do it. Jesse and Chris G. formed a duo called The Unseen Mob. Chris was CEZ and Jesse was GHOST. Music was always blaring out of his room.
We got used to it and even liked quite a bit of it.
When Jesse was about to enter high school, he got real nervous about it. He was apprehensive about the upper classmates and wondering if he would have enough time to get to his classes. He stressed all summer long about it. I went with him, as usual, to registration and the first day of class. Of course I didn't go into the school on the first day. Nope! Just, "Drop me off by the door, Mom. Thanks. I love you." He adjusted very well and became a very popular person for the 4 years that he was there.He was affectionately known at the Italian Stallion!
In the spring of his Sophomore year, he met Dallas. She was a Freshman. They fell madly in love, and I don't mean just puppy love. It was a full out first love for both of them. They both adored each other. As the summer progressed, they started having alot of quarrels. Both of them were very jealous. A week into the new school year, they broke up. Both of them were devastated We were on suicide watch with Jesse for 3 months. Then one week before Thanksgiving, he sat in his room and listened to "In The Arms Of The Angel" over and over. His Friend, Jason showed up, and we thought that would cheer him up. But he still sat there on his bedroom floor, with a picture of Dallas in front of him, and listening to that song. After a while, he came out and handed me the phone. He said it was Chad and that Chad wanted to talk to me. Chad is another one of Jesse's close friends. I took the phone and asked him what was up and he just yelled, "Jesse's taken some pills!" I dropped the phone and told Ken what Chad had told me. We made Jesse go in and induce vomitting. Jason had no idea what Jesse had done, because he had taken the pills before Jason had come over. Before this happened, we had removed all guns, knives and medicine from our home. The only thing we had here was Tylenol. That is what he had taken. We called 911 and while we were on the phone with them, Jesse kept saying to tell them to hurry and that he didn't want to die. Just after they showed up, Chad walked in the door. He was all dressed up in his football uniform. They were just about to take the field, when Jesse had paged him.After he talked to me on the phone, he just changed his shoes and came over. He came up to me and we held each other and shook, while they checked Jess's vitals. The police had to handcuff Jesse, as a safety measure to himself and themselves as well. Jason couldn't understand this, and started going off on them. Ken explained to him why they did this and finally got him settled down. Ken rode with Jesse in the Aid Car and Chad drove Jason and I to the hospital. The had to pump his stomach and do tests on him every 2 hours. The boys stayed there with us all night. After about 6 hours, they said he would be okay, and then they transported him to a hospital in Kirkland, for further evalutation. He was there for 3 days, and then released to us. Jesse said that all the time that he was waiting for all the test results to come back, he just prayed to God to let him live.
After his suicide attempt, he seemed to realize that life was worth living after all. He had dreams of becoming a firefighter and owning a farm filled with Chihuahuas. I guess that's why we were so confused when he brought his dog Swisher home. She is Pit Bull, Rottwieller and Doberman. Jesse had worked at the Puget Park Swap Meet for 2 summers. Then he got a job at Interstate Batteries in the summer of 1999. He worked in the warehouse and got to be quite good at driving the forklift. During that summer, he got busted for having a pipe on him.Other than that, he was a normal teenager. Rarely home. Always 'hangin' with his friends. He and Dallas had become friends again, and there was even talk of getting back together again.
On March 14, 2000, he started his sentence for having the pipe. He was put on house arrest for 16 days. He had dropped out of school earlier that month, because he knew he didn't have enough credits to graduate. So he started to pursue his GED while at home. I drove him to and from work and also to the meetings he had to attend twice a week, concerning drugs. He was not a drug addict. I just want to make that very clear right now. We thought that he would drive us crazy being home that long, but he was great. He studied for his GED, helped around the house and worked out. I think he watched every movie we own. Some of them twice! His all time favorite movies were the Terminator, Mortal Combat, Stand By Me, Boyz In The Hood, Dangerous Minds, Menace To Society and Happy Gilmore. When the 16 days were over, he has so happy to be free to go out with his friends again. They really gave him a bad time while he was confined to the house. They'd call up or stop by and ask if Jesse was here. Then they'd start laughing. They came by often, to keep him company. We call them Our Boys. Chad Veitch, Josh Haggerty, Joe Hanrahan, Chris Burns, Jason Thompson, Adrian Stoner-Dickerson, Bruce Reese, Brandon Harbaugh, and Chris Gulsvig.
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