This past month has been the hardest time of my life. I lost one of my sons. I guess that’s about as bad as it gets, but he was also my buddy and my working partner, whether we were playing music together, working in our recording studio, or even doing some construction work. I’ve cried more tears than I ever thought possible, but I’ve also 
recalled some funny moments from my son, Jimi Divine. Those times help me cope.
Jimi was very funny. I haven’t been able to just pull up a bunch of jokes he shared with me for the last nearly thirty years because he was more of an “in the moment”, witty, sort of guy. I’m just going to share a few moments where he made me laugh til I cried. They were a different kind of tears, though.
Jimi’s first attempt at humor was one of my favorite moments. He was about two years old. He called my sister Marla “Lala” and he was learning about knock knock jokes. It was simple to him: you say a word and the listener says who, and you add something to the word! We were riding together in my car and he said, “Daddy, I have a knock knock joke. You wanna hear it?” Of course I did. This kid may have still been in diapers, but he was already working on his stand up routine! It went like this: Knock knock. Who’s there? Lala! (Hmmm, I’m thinking…) Lala who? His reply: Aunt Lala!!
Then there was airport security when we arrived in Germany. Mackey, Jimi, and I had gone through the regular security of bag checking and the metal screening devices, but there were some random checks by the German 
police, once regular security was finished. Sure enough, this big policeman singled Jimi out and says, “Come here!” Jimi walks toward the policeman, who is now standing with arms and legs spread showing Jimi what he needs to do to be checked. Jimi looks at the guy and says, “Okay”, and heads toward the officer. The officer is still standing in that “frisking” position so Jimi walks up to the officer, puts his arms round him, and gives him a bear hug!! The officer looks at me like “What is this kid doing?” Then he smiles, and pats Jimi on the back and says, “You can go.”
The last joke I got from Jimi was an email. It was: Bono and The Edge walk into a bar. The bartender says, “Not U2 again?”
My favorite has to be Jimi’s use of a great Three Stooges word. My nephew, John Edgar, was telling Mackey, Jimi, and I about staying with some friends in the metroplex. He stated that they were “severe vegans”. He said the first night there they had soy burgers, soy fries, and some sort of soy dessert. The next morning, breakfast consisted of soy pancakes, soy hash browns, soy sausage, and another soy dessert. Mackey asked John Edgar, “Well, was it any good?” Jimi instantly replied, “Soytainly!”
Jimi, you have been the source of so many happy tears, and now the source of the saddest of tears. Every day, for the rest of my life, I will think about you and love you with all of my heart.
I must end on a happy note, though, considering the main subject of this story, and say, “Jimi, we will soytainly miss you”!
-Johnny Divine
