On this very day in 2008, My cousin James (Jimmy, Jimbo) Keith Kling, never woke up after heart failure and complications from Muscular Dystrophy, the day after he watched his favorite team win the World Series.
Jimmy was the first person I remember wanting to know in this world. He was born 9 months after me and so, we were around each other a lot as kids.
I don’t ever remember Jimmy being different than other kids, until we started to age and I realized he didn’t move like other kids. He had to take his time a bit, sometimes stumbling or losing control of his body and falling to the ground while walking.
It didn’t bother me, not that it mattered, and Jimmy NEVER let it bother him. I just learned to walk a little slower, and I think it’s part of why I walk a little slower as an adult, lol, now that I write about this and let the connections flow in words. Hmm …
His name is Chubb Rock!
Well, it was my name for him as a kid because I thought it was funny, and it turned out to be a little serendipitous because he made some Hip Hop Music later in life – Check it out here.
Jimmy was the first person I shared Hip Hop music with as a kid and I’m the one who introduced him to it. From there, he just went bananas learning everything he could about it and who was who in the game.
I shared a lot of first experiences with Jimmy, like our first birthday parties, first sleepover, first baseball game and first run-in with the law, you know, things boys do.
We even lived together, once …
For a few months one year when I was down and out, I lived with Jimmy in the same house. I had been kicked out of where I was living and couldn’t get my shit together. And ended up back out on my own again soon after. Another story, another time.
Being around Jimmy started to help a little bit and I got a job at a local newspaper to deliver papers overnight. I needed some help rolling up the papers, while I drove and delivered them.
The issue became that Jimbo lived upstairs and had gotten used to not walking quite as much, so the stairs were harder going up. Going down he could just scooch on his butt and then get to the car with a little help or a wheelchair.
He didn’t like doing his stretches, either …
The bane of his existence might have been the calf raises and stretches the doctors had mandated for him as part of his daily treatment plan. He loathed doing them.
Let’s just say I remember those charged with his care, their quite vocal pleas and jesting to get Jimmy to partake in his own health program was always comical, to say the least.
Like getting a kid to eat vegetables, or something.
Until it was something he wanted …
Jimmy also didn’t like not being able to keep up with me and my brother, or his friends, so, he did the best he could to mitigate that. While I was living with him, he was able to learn to get back up the stairs without me lifting him.
This kid would sit on one step and then push into the step, lift his butt to the next step, and then lift one leg at a time (by grabbing the pants and pulling) up the step, one leg at a time, to do it again. After a month or so, he was able to get all the way back up without our help. Keep in mind we did papers 7 days a week.
It was short lived, because I was still not ok …
I could not keep it together, and maybe there, in that situation with Jimmy where he lived, I wasn’t supposed to. That wasn’t where I was supposed to be, and I learned that later on.
However, I missed him and it hurt when I left where I was living with him. We had become even closer because I would help do things like shower him, get him food, and then we’d play football video games, or sing karaoke on video games. He was one of the first people to tell me I should sing for real, when he heard me lay down Save Tonight by Eagle Eye Cherry.
I stole it from him …
People have told me throughout my life life that I am a genuine person, unique and have a certain energy that most don’t exude.
I’m pretty sure I just learned it from Jimmy when we were babies because that kid had a way of looking at the world that had you feeling sorry for any obstacle that stood in his way. He didn’t complain, ever, and I don’t know how he did it.
What is something you’re glad you stole?
Maybe you saw somebody do something and you intuitively knew you wanted to do it that way too, so, you ‘borrowed’ their way of doing it, until it became your way. 😉
Or, maybe, as in my case, you’ve borrowed in every area of life from books, teachers, lectures, movies, music, art and the like, in ways you’re not even aware of yet.
It’s a big reason why I’m sharing my truth with you in this format because it reveals me to myself. The more I write the more you get to see what’s revealed along the way, which are insights you can glean from. Sometimes I wish I knew it all so I could spend my time applying it all, however, I do not – lucky you!
Maybe we can all steal together? Share something you stole below, if you please ;-p