The Last Lecture

This section describes Pausch’s early relationship with his wife, Jai. Even though he believed he “was always pretty adept at charging through the brick walls in [his] academic and professional life” (73), the same sort of tenacity didn’t work out as planned with Jai. He was known as a bit of a player who would never settle into monogamy or domesticity. They hit it off, but being in a long-distance relationship turned out to be too difficult, and Pausch asked Jai to move to Pittsburgh so they could be together. At the last minute, Jai backed out, saying she didn’t love Pausch. To Pausch, this apparent rejection felt like hitting a brick wall and not knowing what to do. His parents told him to give Jai the space she wanted and to support her, as they assumed she was very scared. They were right, and because Pausch gave her that space, Jai came around on her own time, and they were married.

Their wedding was small but special. Their wedding-day getaway involved lifting off in a hot air balloon, but several things made it difficult—hitting tree branches, leaving later than scheduled, and shifting wind. Landing the balloon became very dangerous, and it seemed likely they would land too near a train, where the balloon’s envelope would get caught on the speeding train.