So Far Away

"Mommy! Mommy, where are we going?" Five year old Jamie Haner asked her mother, watching for her mother go through her closet, looking for clothes.

"We're going to visit your uncle, sweetie," Kayley Haner answered her daughter. She was searching for a warm outfit for her daughter. Even California was rather cold in February.

"Who? Uncle Zacky?" Jamie asked excitedly. The little girl simply adored her green eyed uncle.

Brian Haner, who just came into the room and had heard his daughter ask, chuckled and answered, "No, sweetie. We're going to visit your Uncle Jimmy."

Jamie tilted her head slightly confused. "But daddy, isn't Uncle Jimmy with the angels? We can't visit him when he's with the angels."

The adults looked at each other before Brian replied, "We're going to visit Uncle Jimmy's grave. You know how we always visit your uncles when it their birthdays and today is your Uncle Jimmy's birthday." Both knew that that their daughter would understand that. She knew that everyone would get visited on their birthday, this included her deceased uncle.

"Can I bring him flowers, daddy?" the little girls asked with her big brown eyes that looked very much like the one her father possessed, pleading.

Brian smiled at his daughter, nodding. "Of course, sweetie."

Little Jamie started cheering before she announced loudly that she had to pee and rushed out of the room, not expecting her father to say anything else.

The adults started laughing at their daughter, both used to this random kind of announcements. Kayley, who had finally found an outfit for her daughter that wouldn't let her freezing, moved to bend down to retrieve the clothes from a lower shelf in the closet. Brian, who was watching her, walked a few steps over and gently pulled his wife straight again.

"You know, you shouldn't bend like that," he stated, kissing his wife's cheek and bending down himself to retrieve the clothes. Kayley was pregnant with the couple's second child and bending down with her being very close to her due date wasn't good for her health. Brian did everything he could do to make his wife's everyday life as easy as possible; he wanted both his wife and child to be healthy.

After Jamie came back from the bathroom, she mostly dressed herself, with a little bit of help from her mother, the three made their way out to Brian's car, starting their way towards the cemetery, with a small pit stop at a flower shop so Jamie could buy flowers for her uncle.

When they arrived at the cemetery, Jamie took her parents hand, walking in the middle of them, being lead down the path towards her uncle's grave. As she held both her parents' hands, she allowed her mother to carry the flowers.

"Is this Uncle Jimmy's grave, mommy?" Jamie inquired after she noticed that her parents had stopped walking and stood in front of one grave. When her mother nodded, Jamie she took the flowers she had just bought for her uncle, walked towards the head stone and squatted down.

Jamie turned back to her parents with a slightly confused expression on her face. "What's the matter, sweetheart?" Brian asked his daughter.

"Why does here stand James and not Uncle Jimmy?" Jamie had always been a really smart child and could already read small things all by herself.

"Because, sweetie, Jimmy is only his nickname, just like you have given Uncle Johnny the name Uncle Shortie. James is his real name," Brian tried to explain as best as he could to his daughter.

"I have nearly the same name as Uncle Jimmy, daddy," Jamie stated realizing the similarities between her own name her uncle's name.

"That's right. You were named after your uncle that's why your name and your uncle's name are really similar," Kayley replied to her daughter curiosity. There had never been a doubt on Kayley's mind that she would have wanted her daughter to be named after her very dear friend. She was just sad that her daughter would never be able to meet Jimmy as he had passed as Jamie was just a month old.

Jamie nodded her head and turned back around. She laid the flowers on the head stone, kissed her hands and laid them on the head stone, while saying, "I love you, Uncle Jimmy, very, very much. Happy Birthday."

Even though she had never met her uncle before, she still loved him. She knew that he had been her godfather before God took him to the angels.

Both adults started smiling, slightly teary eyed at the scene before them. Suddenly a strong gust of winds started blowing around them before stopping again.

"Mommy, the wind made my hair all messy," Jamie complained after the wind calmed down. She tried patting it down again.

Kayley could only shake her head. "I swear, you're nearly as bad as your father when it comes to your hair." Jamie and her father only shrugged their shoulders with cheeky grins on their faces.

A while later, Brian and Kayley also laid their flowers on the headstone. Even though, after five years of him being gone, the whole group had come to terms with the fact that their friend wasn't coming coming back, but that still didn't stop Kayley wishing for him to be there. She wished for him to experience all the event he had missed.

Jamie's major events while growing up; her first step, her first words and her first everything else. He had missed the birth of his second niece, Val and Matt's daughter, Amelia. He had missed the birth of his first nephew Owen, named after him, who was Gena and Zack's child. She had been born after Zack and Gena had gotten married, which was another major event Jimmy had missed. And of course he had missed Johnny's wedding with Lacey.

What no one knew though that Jimmy hadn't missed any of those events. His friends might haven't realized this, but he always around watching over them. Even at the moment while they were standing at his grave, he was watching them. He could only laugh when his goddaughter started whining and complaining about her hair, which he had previously just messed up. 'Just like Brian,' he thought to himself with a smile on his face.

Jimmy watched his friends and goddaughter leave. Even though he knew that they still missed him a lot every day, he knew they would all be quite alright on without him being around.