Saturday February 7, 2008    I spent yesterday morning running errands and had been home about an hour when my Uncle Jimmy drove up.  Uncle Jimmy is my dad’s younger brother and he looks like a younger, shorter version of my dad, who was 6’6″ tall.  He built my home here for me when I moved up from Miami in 1983.  He lives nearby, as do several of my cousins, two of his sons and his daughter and their families.  There is a whole little pack of us here.

Uncle Jimmy is 75 and is in great shape.  He looks and acts 60.  He has no health problems and moves around like someone much younger.  He’s slim and has typical bachelor eating habits so it’s a wonder he’ss so healthy.  His wife, my aunt Barbara, passed away a few years ago and he was befriended by the Jehovah Witnesses shortly thereafter.  I am sure he has his share of kindly female churchmembers vying to keep him supplied with tuna casseroles.  He’d be quite the catch!  But I was glad to hear he is content on his own.

I wasn’t prepared for visitors, but I always welcome Uncle Jimmy.  He’s fun and interesting.   We have always gotten along really well.  After his wife died, he’d come to visit for the first time after having gotten involved with the Jehovah Witnesses.  I have a sign at the front walkway that says “Kindly Do Not Solicit.  This includes Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Boy Scouts, etc.”   He shouted into my office window, “Does that mean I can’t come in now if I’m a Jehovah’s Witness?”  I told him of course he was welcome!  He just couldn’t solicit me 🙂

And this time, this visit, he took special note of all the items and images and statues at my altar and on my walls.  He’d seen them before, and just never paid much attention to them.  I have statues and images of Jesus, Buddha, the Dalai Lama, Ma Yoga Shakti, Krshna, Shiva, Sai Baba, Hanuman, Lakshmi, Ganesha, and other various traditions.  We didn’t get into any heavy conversations about anything, we laughingly agreed that we each thought the other might be misled and in need of illumination.

So now when Uncle Jimmy comes to visit, I seat him with his back to the altar, so that he’s facing more familiar home decor: a couch and tv sitting area.  And we chat and catch up on what everyone is doing.  He says he only hears from his sons infrequently but he understands everyone has their own life.  He was cool with it, he remembers he was the same way growing up.  He joked that when he died, I might not have anyone notify me. I told him I’d appreciate it then if he would give me a call once a week, just to make sure I’m ok.

He laughed. He’s on to my tricks.

I’m excited, Mt. Dora Art fest is today!