Memories of Jayson - by Jannie

I remember late nights during my high school years, talking with Jayson about muscle cars. He knew EVERYTHING about muscle cars! He taught me all about V-8 and hemi engines, fuel injection and blowers. One night he found me the perfect Jannie-car: a 1972, blue Dodge Charger with a blower and silver skunk stripes (they were never referred to as racing stripes, but rather skunk stripes). He printed me off a picture which I kept in my bedroom for a long time. I ended up buying a 1990 Pontiac Bonneville that smelled like an old man. It was far from a muscle car, but big brother Jayson was always the first to help me fix it. The car was rusted, and the fuel pump desperately needed to be changed. So, sweet brother J-Bones bought some Rust-Away stuff that helped remove the rust so I could get the bolts and screws to come apart. Then he gave me stuff to put in my gas tank to clean out my engine, stuff to make the car run faster, or more efficient, or whatever! He was always helping me with that beast. And when it was time to fix his car, he’d ask me to help. We were grease-monkey buddies! I’d hold the hood and spray a can of stinky who-knows-what while he revved the engine of his little rice-burner, his Geo Metro. Those were good times for me, times when I really got the chance to build a friendship with my oldest brother.

I also remember times when Charity and I were gone to BYU. I never made much time to call anyone from home, but Jayson always made time for me and Charity. The first thing out of his mouth was a loud, fast and almost raspy, “Hallo, my Leeetle Seeester!” And our response was, “Hallo, my Beeeger Brother!” His greeting always sounded better than ours. And I loved getting the calls! He always had something sweet to say that would make me feel so important. I loved that. Thanks, my Beeeger Brother!

Jayson has the best stories! His stories are told at high speed, with dynamics and extreme animation (Jayson is a living cartoon). He tells the story with his eyes, his hands, his arms and legs. Now you must understand one thing about the Murdock family. When we laugh hard, you hear a loud burst at first, but then the whole room goes quiet because we usually can’t breathe. While we struggle to make our breath move between our vocal chords, we end up making soft “clicks” instead of hee-hees or ha-has. So Jayson starts telling his stories – usually about Benji, or chasing Aaron around the house – and soon enough, the family roars with laughter, then turns to silent clicking. But every time the room goes quiet, Jayson adds something funny to the story, which makes us laugh harder, which makes us go quiet, so Jayson adds something funny to the story…and on it goes. It ends when Jayson gets laughing with us and we’re all laughing helplessly in a quiet, breathless guffaw. Then we have a moment to wipe our tears, stretch our tired abs, and BREATHE! I’m telling ya, nobody tells a story like Jayson does!