Last Mother’s Day we had dinner with our three kids in Berkeley. During the meal Jason said he had some news, something he wanted to share. “I have a lady in my life,” he said to the collective amazement of the four of us. He turned to the backstory, recalling that five years ago his best friend, Bill Jacox, was riding his bike with his eleven year old son Alex, and a number of other kids. Bill, an athlete, someone who Jason rode mountain bikes and hiked with, fell off his bike and died in front of his son and a number of other children.
Jason was devastated. He spent time with Sunny, Bill’s widow, providing whatever support and affection he could. He helped her write the eulogy and stayed in touch with the family—Sunny, her now 16 year old son Alex, and her 13 year old daughter, Serena, a classmate of Isla.
It’s been a difficult four or five years for Sunny. She posted this on Facebook in June in honor of her late husband.
This spring Sunny asked her kids, “What would you think about Mama’s dating?” They both encouraged her.
Sunny wasn’t going to hit bars or the internet to look for someone. She had a target. One of her friends suggested that if she felt this affection for Jason she needed to make the first move, as she was advised that he was unaware. She did. Last April something happened, and by May they were “dating,” the term that they both used to describe a relationship that neither of them wanted anyone beyond immediate family to know…until yesterday. Sunny had a summer trip planned to Alaska with her family; all four kids had activities.
Sunny and Jason let the proverbial cat out of the bag yesterday. Jason told Sean and Greg in Colorado. I texted him, “How about Hawthorn and Hazel?” He replied, “bewildered amusement.” He continued, “It was certainly the talk of the teenager text circuit last night.” Sunny told her two, both showed “thumbs up.”
This is a photo I had of Sunny. We met her on the 4th of July in El Cerrito.
She sent me this one today.
There is another side to this story. As Jason was comforting Sunny after Bill’s death Jason was also dealing with his extraordinarily painful divorce from Rachel. And Sunny was there for him. Then something happened. Sunny tells us stuff. We’ll find out.
We are so impressed with her and so pleased that they have found each other. I’ll be adding on to this as things develop, we see her more, and with their relationship now out in the open, we’ll see where it goes.. We couldn’t be happier.
BTW. Sunny is a year older than Jason, full Korean, and is the Dean of Students at UC Berkeley.