My dad, Jimmy Jones, and a punch in the belly

One of my favorite photos of my father (and sister Rene'e)

It is growing very close to my father's birthday.  And when that happens, I tend to become sad.  For my father passed away in 2009 in March, however, the event that caused his death happened on his 75th birthday February 20th.  Now for those of you who have no idea of who my father was, well...  I am truly sorry for you, because, if you had known him you would fully understand the reason for my sadness at this time of year.  A tribute or shrine cannot, will not, represent anything near who, what, or the thing/things that he was able to create around himself.  I love him dearly.  He was just plugged into the planet, if that makes any sense - in a manner that few are/were.  In fact, I don't know if we are actually "plugged" into anything anymore (in comparison to those times).  My dad grew up in a rural setting of Detroit that turned into part of a major setting of the Detroit suburban thing many years later.  He was a proud man.  He was brilliantly likable.  (among many things)  He enjoyed taking his kids to the drive-in in his Ford pick-up truck to watch the latest John Wayne movie/movies.  He was christian by nature, perhaps by calling - not sure about the later, but, he understood forgiveness, and, he sought harmony in any situation.  Truth is, I cannot begin to fully express his up side, and, ironically I am not actually writing about him in this post.  I actually started this roll of thought because I was thinking of my life-long-ago friend Mr. Jimmy Jones.  I'm sure that a lot of people know a Jimmy Jones (it is a somewhat common name)... however, my Jimmy Jones grew up in Michigan and ended up in Troy Michigan with me at some point near 7th grade.  Jimmy was a great kid.  We ended up on the same baseball team/teams, and in Troy Michigan at the time baseball was king!  So, Jimmy, another amazing kid - Jeff Jackson - and I always seemed to end up on the same baseball team for some years in the Troy league/leagues.  And, we all seemed to have some potential.  (As a side note, for some of those years my father was our coach, also noteworthy is Jeff's dad pretty much created the baseball league in Troy at the time).  So, I met my friend Jimmy Jones in baseball leagues around town.  We clicked.  We were friends.  He, I suspect, had many better friends than I, yet, as life is, he was my friend.   He lived in a newer development and I lived in the old, regardless, my buddy Jimmy always welcomed me to the party (oh, and yes, there was a bit of that going on as well, party that is).

Thing is.  Years later.  Many years later.  My favorite dad - my dad - unexpectedly dies.  And I, with my lovely wife and my charming son fly from Burbank California to the Detroit area for my father's funeral.  So, we made the unwelcome jaunt to back to Michigan for the dark event of my father's passing.  Now, for the record, at this point in my life I was at most possibly at the heaviest weight I have ever been at, physically that is, in my life...  So, more to the point - I was fat - and I was fat in a way that I will never understand.  I was still kinda fit though - strange I guess - fit, perhaps, because I was working out with my buddy Matt O'Hare almost daily with boxing gloves and whatnot, ironically, in an attempt to lose weight, but, I guess, I had arrived at a precious time in my life where that ol' thing about "your metabolism just changes".  Yes, fat.  Regardless.  I show up for my father's funeral a bit heftier than usual, and my old time friend Jimmy Jones is among the many in attendance.  Which, by the way is amazing!  And it was amazing who all showed up to say farewell to my father!  Many of the baseball kids I knew back in the day showed up to bid "Coach" a grand farewell.  So, fat guy (me) that I was when I showed up.  My lovely family, mom, brothers, sister, cousins, aunts & uncles, certainly put me at ease... at the funeral home in the days of "viewing" I will never forget seeing Jimmy showed up.  Several ladies expressed how attracted they were to him still - "all these years after" as they said.  And, so there was Jimmy.  My baseball buddy, my friend from so many years ago.  Always an inviting friend.  Yes.  Showing up for my father's funeral - his old coach, from so long ago.  RESPECT.  Certainly not the only one in attendance with respect in mind.  But, the point is, with Jimmy... because we were always competitive kids, he and I, and anyone else in a Troy league... in sports and back in the day...  He looked at me, and I knew at that very moment what he thought.... and at that moment he thought, "Oh my god, John's gotten really fat."  And, I remember thinking, "Yea, so I drink beer and I over eat, and, yes, I got a bit of ol' man belly fat, but, f**k you if you think for a second that you can take me."  And, so he looked at me somewhat shocked, and I looked at him in no way shocked and said, "Hey, I get that I look like I've out of shape and all, but, I work out almost every morning."  And Jimmy scoffed a bit.  "No, really," I said, "go on, punch me in the stomach."  And he hesitated.  "I'm serious.  Haul off and hit me in the stomach."  And after a moment Jimmy did.   He blasted a hard shot to my somewhat overblown gut,  And it landed hard. "Oh my god!" He snorted!  And I knew that he knew that what he meant was that my stomach muscles, fat as they seemed, were able to take a mighty blow.  Fat as I had become, I think I somehow won.  It was good to see the past at my father's funeral.

I'm thinking maybe this is a weird story.