Uncle Jimmy

Work ethic and family

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Jimmy has a very dry sense of humor,” my Aunt Crystal said after she asked if I wanted anything from the grocery store and Jimmy made a joke about how he wanted the “see-food” he likes… aka “he likes all the food that he sees.” I laughed, nodded, and told Crystal that I was very aware of Uncle Jimmy’s subtle comedy. After visiting their house in October, I made a note that it was sometimes hard to tell when he was saying something in jest. 

Absent obvious non-verbal cues of a slight smirk or a twinkle in his eye, it can be difficult to know if he’s being serious or sarcastic. So much of what he says comes out in the same tone, cadence, and inflection. He’s “Steady Eddy” and, for the most part, doesn’t ever seem to get overly emotional in any direction. “What you see is what you get,” Aunt Crystal said. “He’s a very interesting but predictable man…in the best way. Everything that he does is so meticulously thought out and considered… Us kids are very spoiled! He is a man of service!” added his oldest daughter Delaney.

At the start of 18 Uncles, I made a list of the uncles and quick notes related to each. For Jimmy, my only line was “unwaveringly pleasant,” and I was right. 

A father of nine with kids ranging from age four to twenty-four and the owner-operator of a successful pool company downstate, my Uncle Jimmy has next-to-no available hours in his schedule. For that reason, I thought a good way to get quality time would be to go down for a visit and shadow him at work. 

So in early May, I drove down and spent five days in Howell, hanging at the pool store, riding in the truck to job sites around the Detroit suburbs, playing sports and board games with the kids, sharing dinner with the family, and taking late-night saunas. 

And I’m very glad I did. Cousins whose names I once struggled to remember now feel much more like family, Aunt Crystal gave me great insight into her brothers, and, after hours of one-on-one time, my perspective on Uncle Jimmy went from mostly unknown unwaveringly pleasant uncle to trusted confidant. 

The whole experience went better than I could’ve imagined and reminded me exactly why I’m doing what I’m doing.