I was in Ground School with Jim at ExpressJet, not one time, but twice. I'm tall at 6'6" and of course Jim is nowhere near my height. To avoid confusion in class, Jim decided that I was Big Jim and he would be Little Jim.  The nicknames stuck after that.

Everyday after class we both would take long walks, usually about 3-5 miles in separate directions to get rid of the tensions of the day, burn off extra calories, followed by study for the next day. During the walks it was normal to pass each other in opposite directions at least once or twice. Smile and a wave then keep walking.

After the first Ground School I went home to Pennsylvania for Christmas and was injured in a traffic accident. Jim decided to move to another carrier to build time. We kept in contact during the separation.

After 11 months, I was  finally cleared to fly again. I contacted Little Jim to let him know I had a new class date. As it turned out, he had a new as well 2 weeks after mine! Little Jim suggested that I trade start dates for his class two weeks later. Well hey, why not! Big Jim and Little Jim again.....

When we got to first day in ground school, we were told that Big Jim and Little Jim were names that were politically incorrect and we couldn't address each other that way.  Of course we continued as Big Jim and Little Jim and resumed our routines in class and after class from the first Ground School. 

The only difference to our routine was that Jim introduced me to Sparkling Ice Flavored Sparkling Water.  Jim insisted I try it, but I had no use for fancy  high class water. Once I tried it I was hooked. I'm drinking a bottle as I'm writing now as a toast to Little Jim. It's a toast to the most enthusiastic aviator I've ever met!