I am going to tell you about my uncle Jeff. Uncle Jeff always referred to me as his favorite, or the nicest person. There was the occasional “hey look it’s the Timothy what’s-his-name winner.” Uncle Jeff was always so proud of me that I won the Timothy Healey award for kindness. He loved talking about it. He never, ever let me forget it.
As most of you know my family and I would spend about 7-12 days in Florida with Uncle Jeff and his family. Every day in Florida he would say to me “hey, you know you’re my favorite.” Not only did he touch thousands of people with his brilliant writing, he was so funny! We have thousands of stories with uncle Jeff –like the Florida Turnpike shirt, following Mrs. Claus around Boynton Beach, and making deals with his nieces and nephews: if they made funny gestures when walking down the aisle at their weddings, he’d give them thirty dollars.
I was always so happy and proud to call him my uncle. When I was younger I would always bring his books into show-and-tell. Everyone in my class was so amazed when I said that my uncle was a best-selling author.
I always loved talking to him about his books. He made it sound like it was a piece of cake, but we all knew it wasn’t.
Even though I won’t see Uncle Jeff and talk to him about his books, I will always have my memories. Uncle Jeff will live on in all of our hearts, especially mine.
Remembering Zazz 