The Great American Black Hero

Chapter Three: Grandma

Grandma was God-sent.

Oh yeah! She fell right out of heaven into our laps. And we were forever grateful. Granddad was grand too. But it was Grandma who took the cake. One of my fondest memories of Grandma was when we had gone over to her apartment in California and it was pretty much an ordinary mundane day...OK, it was fooking boring! I had no money, which wasn't unusual, and nothing to do, and was pretty much depressed. I went over the hill and through the woods to Grandma's small one-bedroom apartment.

With a smile, she let me in and before long she had me laughing and in a very good mood. Talking for her cat, and then right out of the blue she said, "Let's order a pizza and play some cards!" I'm not sure what it was...the spontaneity? The way she always had a smile on her face, though I knew she was in pain from her arthritis night and day. Was it "spirit transference?"

Whatever it was, like Diana Ross sang, "If there is a cure for this, I don't want it!"

Grandma made everybody feel good. For a woman in her 70's, she had more going on than a lot of drugged-out teenagers. To this day it is Grandma's grin I still carry on my face. It is still her joyful, soulful voice I hear when I am down.

Now most everyone thinks that their Grandmother is the best Grandmother in the world, a world without end! Hallelujah!

Of course, my Grandmother was the Real McCoy! SHE WAS THE BEST GRANDMOTHER IN THE WORLD!

Grandmas, make you feel like you want this Grandmother for your Grandmother regardless of what Nationality, Race, or Religion you might belong to.

My Grandmother was the universal Grandmother every child wanted. And I am sure a lot of you can really say the same thing about your Grandmother.

She was warm. She was funny. She was sensitive. She was hip. She was wise!

She warned us of 'the sins of hell'.

But never condemn us for committing them.

She was "love in a smile and a hearty laugh!‟ But you see, my Grandmother was really special. She was not your ordinary Grandmother. Some of the hardships and that is putting it mildly, my Grandmother went through, you wouldn't wish on the devil. Now think about it? It is said, in 1935 Hitler with his idealization of a pure, 'perfect, white, race' was trying to dominate the world, even though he did not physically conquer the world. Don't be fooled Hitlerism is as deep in the hearts and minds of almost all people as Judaism is. But more on that later.

But back to Grandma.

.

My Grandmother grew up in a time when prejudice was on the uprise, not the downside like today. It was popular to be prejudiced and to outwardly declare how you hated anyone who was not of your race.

It irritates me to see a lighter color person treat a darker color person with disrespect and contempt. As if he or she is somehow superior because their skin is a lighter color. Don't be fooled. White Racism admits no other race but, no matter how light or 'lighter' you are...you are still, what they call, 'non-white'.

I brought this up only so you can get a better idea of what the times were like in America when my Grandmother was coming up. With my attitude and negritude {like that word?}, today I would have been lynched at the age of five.

But Grandma never talked about her hardships, like I told you already, she always had a smile and a grin for you.

'Make a joyous noise unto the Lord,'

Was my grandmother's motto.

So I guess I wrote all that other stuff in vain? NOT!!!

Someone will be glad to hear what I wrote and use that information to help end racism everywhere!

I remember Grandma telling me one story that day, which I do remember to this day!

My Grandmother's sister had just died and my Grandmother was so poor, she didn't even have enough money to give her sister a decent burial. She had been cheated out of the insurance and retirement pay her husband was supposed to get from his job, and no one, at least in the Henderson‟s family had any money to hire a lawyer, and my Grandmother did not know what she was going to do about the burial cost.

So my grandmother told me she simply got down on her knees and prayed to God.

Two days later my Grandmother received one of the insurance checks her sister had been cheated out of...just enough to bury her sister. She never heard from her sister's husband's company again.

Now I am almost an atheist. Yes, a black atheist! But I am not here to try and convince you of what I know and don't know about any kind of God. I know that day, something or someone responded to my Grandmother's prayer. Since I was having my big doubts about God at that time, I contributed Grandma's good luck to Magick.

My Grandmother could do magick!

Another time, it was towards the end of my Grandmother's life that my Grandmother had moved to Lompoc, California from Columbus, Ohio, where her son, our father was.

Dad was there because his work transferred him there. My ever-so-cool Grandfather passed away in the '80s from prostate cancer. He had been married to my Grandmother for over 35 years. I really felt lost.

And, of course, that was the main reason Grandma moved.

Grandma had a one-bedroom apartment on the south side of Lompoc, and I had come up to live in Lompoc from Hollywood, staying with my Father. Big mistake! Over the river and through the woods I would go to Grandma's house at least three times a week.

Well, one particular visit I remember, it was just a plain, ordinary, dogged, day, afternoon and I had strolled over to Grandma's house just to be in her company. She greeted me with a smile as usual, and we sat at the kitchen table talking for a while when all of a sudden, out of the blue, my Grandmother said,

"Let's make sloppy joes and have potato chips and play cards!" It was like a magic button. The night seems to light up. I lit up. We made the sloppy joes{my Grandmother was on SSI}, and played cards, and had fun, and HAD MORE FUN!!! I don't know why this particular night was so special to me. Grandma was always doing something for us. I think the spontaneity of the moment summed up the beautiful life and attitude my grandmother always carried with her.

It would take several books altogether to tell you all the wonderful things our grandparents did for us. Even though

both of them are deceased at this writing.

How can they NOT go on living in our hearts and minds forever? That, to me, would be the true definition of Heaven. Those you loved and suffered for you...GIVE you their eternal LIFE {LOVE} you always possessed, but now have more of us because they lived and their lives were blessed and helped you.

If God is alive and NOT dead, then He is alive in us now, along with the loved ones we keep in our hearts, here and now, and forever.

In the Presence of a Living Heaven.

Not a dead One.

OK!

You have heard about Grandma throughout this book. I could have written a book on her alone!

But for now let's look at another extraordinary person who had no formal education, worked as a janitor at night, and drank two bottles of beer every night after work and dinner to get his Mojo on.

Who drove us to Florida every year in a new car he traded in EVERY year?

And whose whole existence was making sure his grandchildren were the happiest kids on earth.

Grandpa...you could not have done it better if I had done it myself!