James (Jimmy Ray) Smith....Requiem for a Heavywieght.

I've written about my Uncle no fewer than three times , and his presence can be found in nearly every post I write, if you know what to look for. This past Saturday, the world became a little less interesting, Jimmy Ray slipped from this mortal coil. Though the vast majority of you never met him, you probably feel like you knew him from what you have read here. I thought you all would like to know, and I feel like I owe him a few final words.

If I only learned one thing from my Uncle it was this; Don't mince words, say what you believe, and stand on it. When I was in my early twenties, from time to time I'd go have a few drinks with Jim after he closed his place down for the night. One night stands out, he had just bailed me out of jail a week or two prior to that night. I had a few in me and was starting to feel guilty for screwing up once again. The conversation came around to where my life was headed, we both knew the answer, he probably knew better than I did at that point. I think I started to give my word about how I was going to go straight, clean up my act. He stopped me about half way through and told me not to make promises I wasn't going to keep. He told me that the only thing you have in this life is your word, it's the one thing that can't be controlled by anyone, and nobody can separate you from it. He said " A man says a thing, and he stands on it like a rock, no matter what. When you die, you want people to look at that hole in the ground, and say there's a man in there".

That's what they will say about Jimmy Ray. There's a man in there.