Fiction

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Mountain man

I never knew a person who had it all together like Jimmy Jenkins. I don't know what his secret is or how he does it, but that man never ceases to amaze all those around him. His wife Jenny absolutely adores him and his little boy, Joey, can never spend enough time with his daddy. Not that everything is perfect in Jimmy's life; his life is filled with good and bad times too, just like everyone else, but the way he handles it all is truly inspiring! And how he loves that mountain! There isn't a week that goes by that he doesn't take that trek up Soalone Mountain several times. He's a humble a man you can find and always has the right words to say at the right time; He's like a walking proverb. He is always near when someone needs help and never seems to have a harsh word to say about anyone. "I'd rather be a doer than a sayer," he would always say.

I remember how he took in the run away teenager who got arrested for shop lifting at the shop mart. No one ever knew how he found out about it, he just walked right into the sheriff's office an hour after she was brought in and worked it out with the sheriff and took her home. Lizzy works at the same shop mart she was arrested in and the town now loves her. Lizzy has always been a part of Jimmy and Jenny's family ever since. Lizzy's parents abandoned her, but she does not have a bitter bone in her body about it. She is just thankful for where she is now and hopes to see her parents some day. If you asked me it was all Jimmy and Jenny's doing, they love that girl something special. Through the whole ordeal, Jimmy would continue to take his treks up the mountain doing whatever he does up there, but go he does.

I could go on and on about the many things Jimmy has done for others but what really gets me is how he handles the things he has been through himself, like the time Joey almost died of cancer, or when Jenny had two miscarriages and they found out they could not have any more children. Well, Joey got well and Jimmy and Jenny had another little boy. Through it all Jimmy was steady and strong, quiet yet calm and always taking that journey up the side of the mountain. Whether their was good times, like Lizzy getting married to the shop mart owners' son or that great job Jimmy got just outside of town, or bad times, like Joey's near death or Lizzy's hard times after Jimmy brought her home, Jimmy always handled it like no else could. And yes, he always took to the mountain tops through it all. Must be something real good up there, because he got his family making that trek too. Sometimes the whole family goes up Soalone Mountain and won't come back for days. Maybe one of these days I'll ask old Jimmy what he is doing up there.

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