#wakefieldintro

Jamison is a first generation American citizen. His parent immigrated from Cuba less than a year before he was born. His parents initially settled in Miami before packing up and moving to West New York, New Jersey shortly before he was born. Because of that, he’s very proud of his Cuban culture and is fluent in both English and Spanish. 

Growing up, his family didn’t have much. His parents often struggled to make ends meet the first few years of his life and Jamison quickly grew used to not asking for things, and making sure his younger sibling had what they wanted, even if that meant he didn’t get things he wanted. 

When he was 7, his tía flew him down to Miami for a summer visit and it started his fascination with planes and flying. Because he was an unaccompanied minor, the flight attendant let him meet the flight crew and the pilot let him see the cockpit before take off. To this day, it’s one of his favorite memories of his childhood and one of the most memorable parts of the trip. 

He can home with a model of the plane he flew in and a fascination for seeing plans flying and doing all the research he could about them. His parents were sure it would just be a phase that would pass, but by the time he hit high school, he was still building model planes, still doing what he could to get to airports to see planes take off and land, and he’d started talking about going to school for something related to flying - though at the time he didn’t know what. Like with everything else, Jamison poured himself into research and quickly realized, he just couldn’t afford his dream. For two years after he graduated, Jamison worked as much as he could to save money before finally having enough saved to enroll in university and major in aviation. Between his savings and the loans he took out, and working, he was able to stay afloat during undergrad - more than afloat really, he thrived. 

Fast forward several years and Jamison works as a pilot - a career which he loves. Now he flies mostly along the East Coast but there was a time that he did long haul flights across the country. It was on one of his normal trips that he met Emily. Her son having never flown before was nervous. So Emily spoke with the flight attendant and Jamison met both of them - calming both their nerves. He didn’t really expect to ever see either of them again. But the universe had other plans. And before he really even knew what was happening, Emily and her son were two of the most important people in his life.  

When they fell in love, he was more than willing to uproot his life and move to her hometown. And that’s where he’s settled happily for the last several years. With its quick access to Charleston, he still gets to fly and do what he loves and be home more often than not for his family - there’s nothing more he could ask for. 

connection ideas:

friends - mostly people he would’ve met when he moved to town with Emily. 

acquaintances - possibly people he’s met via flying/related things - definitely not people he’s close to, but he’ll say hi and all that. 

Born and raised in Wakefield, Everett is the middle child of Peter and Helen Dixon. He was just barely 3 years old when his little sister was born, and though he remembers little from that time, he has vague memories of tension reigning between his parents for months around that time. He didn’t find out until he was older why exactly that was. And when he did, though he was angry with his mother, it didn’t change anything about his relationship with Lena. 

When he was 11, after a trip to the doctor and some blood work, when his parents were concerned about some changes they noticed, Everett was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. There was plenty of figuring out and adjusting for his family and him, but they figured it out and now his glucose monitor and his insulin pump are just things. He’s never let being diabetic define him - anything anyone else could do, he could do too - though sometimes he had to make adjustments to do it. 

Everett has always loved nature. When he was a child, he could be found in the backyard digging in the ground to see what insects were there. Trying to find the very best ways to grow various things. He started a little garden in their backyard to the protests of both his parents. But he was fascinated with all the differents fruits/veggies/plants he could grow.

When it was time to head to college, Everett chose to study plant science, to continue to learn more about the plants and nature he’d always been so fond of. Once he graduated, he moved back to Wakefield, first working in Charleston for years before finding a job as a landscaper & gardner with Bloom’s Landscaping. It wasn’t exactly what he wanted to do, but it’s the closest he’s come to it.

His love for nature isn’t limited to plants. Everett also loves the beach. He bought a house on White Coral Way because there are few things he loves more than running on the beach or taking a quick trip to the ocean. 

At 6′6″, Everett has been described more than once as a gentle giant. A description he wears proudly. 

connection ideas:

family - older brother. (Lena Phillips - half-sister) 

ex romantic relationships - hs & young adult relationships 

family friends - he’s a dixon, so he probably knows a lot of the kids of founding family members and just like everyone

childhood & hs friends - grew up in wakefield, so a best friend and other friends from when he was little would be great (Noah McKinney) 

college friends - left wakefield for college - undecided where but friends from then would be cool

Growing up in Wakefield Don was a social guy, but he rarely let anyone get too close. According to his friends, he could come across as cold, though he would rarely describe himself that way. 

The only child of a single working mom, Don found himself left to his own devices often. He picked up several hobbies, the most defining being his interest in photography and his love of math. He honestly thought he would become a photographer and leave Wakefield behind. But as with dreams sometimes, that didn’t happen. Instead, he went to university in Charleston after falling hard to a girl he met on a visit his senior year of high school. He changed his plans on a whim, deciding instead to go to school for math and become a teacher. 

 He dated Carrie the entirety of college, and for a while, he thought they would get married. He was more sure of that when near the end of his final year of undergrad, they found out she was expecting. Ultimately, she lost the baby and they were both devastated. It changed their relationship and within a year, they were over. 

Still reeling from the loss, Don moved back to Wakefield, taking a job at the high school he’d graduated from. For a while, he leaned into the coldness people often accused him of. Almost a year later, he met Nicole. And things just clicked. Their daughter, Charli was born when he was 26 and she is his pride and joy. 

When Charli was 10, he and Nicole ended things. It wasn’t exactly mutually, but Don did his best to keep things civil for their daughter. It wasn’t necessarily the most effective and after a year of back and forth, Nicole took Charli and they moved to Washington to be closer to her family. 

Don sees Charli as often as he can - 4 weeks in the summer, holidays, and he tries to fly out for as many of her events as he can. It’s not a perfect system, but Don’s determined to be a good father. 

connection ideas:

friends - he grew up in Wakefield, so childhood, high school, people he met in college. 

Work people - friends from work, clients, etc

Photography people - he doesn’t engage with this hobby as much as he’d like, but he’s still very interested. 

Tatum’s the youngest and the only girl in the Jackson family. From that alone, you would assume she was a little spoiled. But that was the opposite of her experience. She wanted to be just like her brothers, so it didn’t take long before she was more than a little bit of a tomboy who could hold her own against both of them. 

She did well in school, her parents both had extremely high expectations for all of their children. You did well in school, you had a job, and you went to college or joined the military like their father. And though she had no idea what the hell she wanted to do with her life, Tatum knew the military wasn’t for her, so she headed to college in the city. 

It was there that she met Colton, the man she would quickly fall in love with and decide to spend the rest of her life with. The only problems? He was older. And though her dad would never say it, he wasn’t exactly thrilled that his baby girl was talking about marrying a white boy. But Tatum, ever a little bit of a rebel was determined. 

She and Colt dated all through freshman and sophomore and by junior year they were engaged. When she graduated, they moved to Wakefield together and within a year, they were married. When they first got to Wakefield, she bounced from job to job a little bit, not sure what she wanted to do, but after two years, she began taking real estate agent classes and got her license. She’s been with Asset ever since and she loves it. 

About two years after she and Colt got married, they started trying to have a baby. After more than two years of trying, frustrated and discouraged they went to the doctor. They had all the tests done and there was no explanation for why they hadn’t been able to get pregnant yet. The doctors told them she was still young, to be patient and it would happen. They tried for a while longer before their family planning conversations turned from having a baby to adopting. 

Months into making a profile and talking with agencies and just waiting, they found out they were pregnant. Tatum couldn’t believe it at first. They’d done everything but when they stopped focusing was when they were finally successful. Pregnancy was a truly wonderful experience and in May, Zoey Simms was born and for now, their family is complete - though she and Colt still plan to adopt in the not so distant future. 

connection ideas:

friends - from college/the Chicago area where she grew up 

Work people - friends from work, clients, etc

Harlow came into the world the middle child of three girls in a relatively wealthy family. Growing up in Charleston, there was nothing she could ask for that she didn’t receive. Life was good. 

But slowly, almost without her noticing, things started to change for her family. Her parents were having hushed conversations, their house was raided by the police. And before she knew it, at 12 years old, her mom was sent to prison. A little more than a year later, and her father was sent away as well. The whispers from classmates started a few months before her mom was sent away, but Harlow did her best to ignore them. They didn’t know what they were talking about. Her parents hadn’t done anything wrong, they couldn’t have. She learned the hard way just how wrong she was. The list of her parents crimes was long and they all involved money. The comfortable life she’d known forever was gone in what seemed like an instant. 

Harlow learned then that the best way to protect herself, to take care of herself, was to close herself off from other people. If they didn’t know her, the real her, she couldn’t get hurt. 

From 13 on, Harlow was in foster care, bouncing from home to home, separated from her sisters. She fought to maintain a relationship with them, often running away if her caseworker or foster parents wouldn’t let her see them. 6 months before her 18th birthday, she landed in Wakefield, with the Cooper family. They weren’t her family, but they were one of the most decent foster families she’d been in. They let her stay until she graduated from high school. 

After graduation, Harlow moved in with her sister, Jordan, for a few months while she found her footing - she didn’t stay long though, not wanting to intrude on her sister’s life. 

When people look at Harlow, covered in tattoos and with piercings, her dark makeup and dark clothes, they assume the worst about her. And she lets them. It’s all armor to keep people out anyway. Only a few people actually know the real her. Only a few people see how soft and caring she is. Only a few people really know how deeply she feels. It’s a lonely life sometimes, but it’s better than getting hurt when she’s open.  

connection ideas:

romantic relationships - exes - she’s comes off as pretty closed off, so could be a reason for relationship(s) ending, possible crush, possible dates

friends - close friend (Bebe), friends from work, friends from foster care (Sailor)

Though not a Wakefield native, Aaliyah has spent most of her life in town. It’s the only home that’s ever really mattered to her. She only has the faintest of memories of the home she shared with her family is Philadelphia and even less memories of her family home in Morocco. 

Her family finally settled in Wakefield when she was 13. Starting a new school in what felt like a tight knit community all while mourning the loss of her mother only months prior felt like something that was almost too big to bear. But she did, because what other choice did she have? 

She’s struggled to figure out who she is. So much of her pre-Wakefield life was defined by her family and her mom was the center of that. She lost some of those core family connections when she lost her mom and it left her floundering to forge a path and an identity for herself. 

She was the quiet one, at least for her first couple of years in Wakefield. But after some time, she came out of her shell and people got to see the fun loving, silly Aaliyah that she’d always been to her family. 

At 18, she went away to school, back to Philly, where she met Safi and fell in love. A whirlwind romance followed by a whirlwind wedding all by the time she was 20. Shortly after their wedding, they moved back to Wakefield, it was close to her family, her brothers especially who Aaliyah often found herself taking care of. She continued school, through an online program, because she was determined to graduate and make her 

A year and a half after she and Safi married, they took a trip back to Philly to visit friends and family. They decided to rent a car and drive back, stop at a couple cute hotels and just be - sort of take the honeymoon they hadn’t taken after their wedding. On the second day of their trip, they were in an accident, hit head on by a driver Aaliyah would later find out was intoxicated. The driver of the other car walked away with minor injuries, Aaliyah spent several days in the hospital, several hundred miles from her family, and Safi died in the ER.

When she was finally released and her dad took her home, she shut down for a while. The man she’d intended to spend the rest of her life with was gone. They’d only had a short time together and had achieved none of the dreams they’d talked about or planned for. It was her family, both by blood and by choice who helped pull her far enough out of the dark period that she was able to start functioning again. She broke the lease on their apartment, moved back home, took and job at Mercer and started therapy. 

It’s been almost 7 years now since she lost her husband. She misses him daily still, but it’s not the bone crushing feeling anymore. She’s moved on. Started to live again. 

connection ideas: 

romantic relationships - an ex from her first bumpy attempt to date after losing her husband (probably 2 years after his death), a more recent ex or hell even current romantic partner 

friends - close friends, friends from work (jude), friends who are family (raina family), friends from when she first moved to wakefield, friends from childhood in philly (maddie)

Born and raised in the New Orleans area, Samuel, RK to his friends, has always been a kind, silly guy. Always one to make someone laugh, whether that’s by telling a joke or doing something silly. He’ll do just about anything to make someone smile. 

Growing up and to this day, his best friend is his older sister Olivia. Some of his favorite childhood memories revolve around doing things with her. Sometimes things that drove their parents crazy, but they never tried to stop them. 

Through school, RK was a soccer player and a swimmer. He loves both sports and to this day still swims regularly. He was also involved with student council which started his love for all things organizing and activism. That love and interest formed into a  major in psychology - mostly because he thought that would make him marketable. 

During and after college, he’s focused his attention on organizing communities - helping people know what resources were available to them and helping them access all kinds of things. He’s also done a bit of work planning and launching community events. He loves working with people and it shows in his enthusiasm for what he’s doing.

Born the youngest in the Gayle family, Zylan didn’t have much growing up. His mom was a single mom and though she worked hard to make sure her children had the necessities, there was never much room for extras. Zy was never really bothered by what they didn’t have. He had his brother and sister and their mom and that was enough for him.

Pretty young, he fell in love with playing football. It was an extra but even as a child, Zy picked up odd jobs mowing yards and raking leaves and whatever their neighbors needed to help his mom pay for everything that came with football. Playing ball was his ticket out of Wakefield and his chance to attend college. 

In high school, he dated Nora Simms. He was head over heels for her, but they were from vastly different worlds so it wasn’t a surprise to anyone when they broke up before he went off to college.

In college, Zy majored in criminal justice. He decided when he was a child he wanted to be a police officer and that wasn’t a goal he ever wavered on. There was a lot of chatter his junior and senior year about going pro and it would have been amazing for his family, and while there are moments when Zy regrets not playing at the next level, he’s glad he didn’t. 

When he was 25, his brother was arrested and with no questions asked, Zy quit his job and came home to help his mom and sister fight for Erin to be placed with her. They fought for a year before his niece was finally placed with his mom.