To continue in the series of nostalgic posts I've written recently, here is my story with the Air Jordan:
Throughout Elementary School (see map), I was obsessed with Air Jordan, both the man and the shoe. I begged and begged, but to no avail. There were stories of people being stabbed for their Jordans; not in Salt Lake, but still. Finally, my parents caved and bought me some for my birthday. The only reason they did, however, was that my grandma had passed away after her fight with cancer and the funeral was scheduled for the day after my birthday. So, there, in a hotel room in St. George, with a group of people who had come to mourn the passing of an extraordinary woman, I opened up the best present of my life. I felt elated for about 3 hours, then guilty that I wasn't more sad. Then sad.
Around one year later, the only other person I knew with Air Jordans, a popular young boy named Omar Salman, was tragically killed by a gun shot. He was only 12. Our entire class at Morningside was stunned.
You knew that Omar kid? I remember he was new at Canyon View Elementary when he was killed. I kind of forgot about that.
ReplyDeleteps Those are the tightest Jordans.
I'm relying on my little kid memory here, but I'm positive I remember him from Morningside. Maybe he transfered just before. Or maybe I was in volleyball camp with him. I'm starting to wonder now, though, because Nate Carlson said he doesn't remember Omar - and he remembers everybody.
ReplyDeleteThey are the tightest, but I won't buy the throwbacks.
He did transfer because he was the cool new kid so maybe he came from your school.
ReplyDeleteToo bad you're not interested in the throwbacks, I was going to offer you some.
ReplyDeleteOmar did go to Morningside, but transferred. I remember it being a BB gun that he got shot with (or was that just what our/my parents told us so we'd be scared of them.) Wasn't it an accident and the bullet went through the garage wall or something? Remember he had a sister named Abeer.
Also do you remember a kid named Topher and he I think he was kind of a dick (but maybe not).
OK. this makes more sense now.
ReplyDeletehe was holding a BB gun when he was shot with a .45. google omar salman gun and read the link. it's sad, and mysterious.
Not to ruin all this tragic talk about Omar, but the only thing I could think of while reading this was how you 'bay-ged and bay-ged' for the shoes... hick.
ReplyDeleteThats a great memory. You are right about Odessa being extraordinary. Don't know why you had to have those shoes though.
ReplyDelete