Uncle Ryan

Fatherhood, accounting, and crushing goals

For many of us cousins growing up, Uncle Ryan was the man, literally the epitome of cool. He was a star hockey player, who played Division I at Michigan Tech—every local boy's dream—and then professionally, he had style, wore a gold chain with his number on it in high school, and had a banging red crotch rocket. Other male cousins confirmed my perspective, saying they grew their hair out to match his, dreamt of playing at MTU like him, and we all wanted to be that fit. We spent just about every day of the summer swimming at my grandparents on the Portage Canal, and I vividly remember him saying some classic line like, “Your ball is over theeeeeeere,” lifting his arm, flexing his bicep, and then turning his wrist and pointing. I was a twiggy-ass nine-year-old, thinking, “Dude, when the heck will my biceps bulge like Uncle Ry’s?” 

He was disciplined, focused, and had an MTU record-breaking slap shot—although he guarantees the radar gun was wrong. Again, for us nephews, he was cool as sh*t. And I couldn’t wait to grow up and hopefully be half as fly as my Uncle Ry. 

He and Uncle Rodney—twins—are less than ten years older than me, and I remember watching some of Ryan’s hockey games at Michigan Tech, but by the time he left college, I was a pre-teen already chasing girls and trying to figure things out. And I can’t say I’ve had too many personal interactions or memories with him in the twenty-odd years since. 

Of course, we’ve hung out at Thanksgiving and Christmas parties and made small talk, but most of my ‘Uncle Ryan memories’ fade somewhere around middle school. 

Then I embarked on this adventure to reconnect with the family, and before we had even hung out, I got a call from Ry in early October, asking if I’d be interested in working at his accounting firm during tax season.

It was temporary, I could choose my own hours, and—what sealed the deal but he never mentioned in the slightest—I could hopefully get some time with my cool-as-sh*t Uncle Ryan, who’s now a CPA and family man, married to the wonderful Karmen with four kids (Hudson, Porter, Tobin, and Ellington), has a gorgeous house overlooking the water, and an accounting firm that doesn’t stop.

Without hesitation, I agreed and looked forward to spending some hours in the office with Uncle Ryan from late January to April 15th, and hopefully, eating lunch and sharing laughs in the breakroom, hanging out after work for some more bonding, and basically becoming besties.

That’s not at all how the tax season went down, but I did get some of that elusive quality time with Uncle Ry and learned a thing or two about one of our childhood heroes.