A Legacy Worth Leaving

There will come a funeral one day that you will attend that will bring tears.

Tears that continue to flow. Tears that you can not stop from coming. 

Tears for the past. Tears because it's the end. It's is the end of a "story".

Tears because in one life, your life has been interwoven and molded.

Tears because it's time for a new beginning.

That junction point funeral come for me on Tuesday, July 27, 2016 in my Aunt Bernice.

My aunt who sacrificed her life in her 40's to raise me from zero to five, my formative years. 

My aunt who loved me.  She raised me like I was to grow up to be a queen.

My aunt then sacrificed again as she gave me back to her brother and to my real family.

All I could do was sit and stare at the casket and the yellow roses on the casket.

There was singing and piano playing, I didn't see the singer and piano player.

There was a preacher, preaching and I heard him but looked through him.

The preacher was a messenger.  I heard the message loud and clear.  The message was that I was right where I was destined to be. I was on the right path.  I was not off track. I sat in awe as....

The Old Testament Scripture was read: Be Still and Know I Am God.  Psalm 46.  This is something I have been meditating on for years: Be Still and Know I Am God.  It is a powerful mantra. It will anchor your thoughts.  It will change your life. 

The New Testament Scripture was read: Revelation 7 which is the very book of the bible that I had read at my kitchen table two Sunday's prior to the funeral while listening on the radio to a Davidson College Presbyterian Church sermon.  I remember reading about all the tribes of  Judah and I sat in awe again as I heard that scripture read at my aunt's funeral.  I just kept wondering...What are the chances?  What are the chances that this book of the bible would find it's way back to me?  What are the chances?

Then the eulogy was entitled A Legacy Worth Leaving, What Will Your Legacy Be?  That lead me back to this post and The Black Folder Project.  As much as I want NOT to go forward I MUST. I have to print booklets, I have to market a workshop, I have to hold a workshop, I have to. This is part of my story. This is part of my legacy.  

There will come a funeral one day that you will attend that will bring tears. 

The Black Folder Project Moves Forward

After many years the project continues with a downloadable workbook followed by workshops.

What a journey this has been; but life is a journey...to be enjoyed. 

Workbooks are available via my Etsy shop.  

Loving My History, Culture, People and Myself

I didn't know why, but I had to find Dupp and Swat in Charlotte, NC.

  Didn't know, but the moment I walked in I figured it out.  

I saw this shirt the moment I walked in. 

That was the reason I needed to go there. To get this shirt. When I got home I put on the shirt and felt like a million$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ dollars. I felt all the wisdom and the glory from People With Color (I want to make that stick instead of People of Color) over the ages of time all the way back to the Ancient Egyptians. 

Loose. Free. Love Me. Love Us.    

Rest In Peace Justice Pharr Ward

Again...it happened again...
A young person that I knew. Gone. Died. Unexpectedly.
Again.

Death does not happen to just the aged.
Death comes to everyone.
Expect death to come.
You..Me..EXPECT DEATH.

Prepare for death to come.
Leave a legacy.
Pick a favorite color.
Pick a favorite song.
Prepare your family.

Death. Coming for us all.

Death came for Justy.
She left a legacy.
She had a favorite color.
She was a song. She was music. Beauty.
Still...again...death...came.

Rest in Peace Justice. I am thankful for knowing you and experiencing your beauty.

In Memory of Justin Wray Hilliard

How?
Why?
I don't understand.

My son's friend Justin Hillard is dead at 30 years old. Killed by a bullet that as my son put it: "wasn't meant for him".

So much life left to live.
So much hope.
Now so much pain, anger and disbelief.

As a parent of a black child, teenager and young man you live in fear of this day. Well, this day is here for Justin's mom.
I just don't understand.  Do. Not. Understand.

This was a young man with so much promise.
This was a young man who read the newspaper EVERYDAY when he was in high school.  Smart. Kind. Happy. Always smiling. 
This was a young man whose life was cut short and it doesn't make sense. 

How and when do I tell my son and his friends that they need Black Folders too???  Good Grief.  

Rest in Peace Justin. 

Rest in Peace. Justin Wray Hilliard

What Legacy Will You Leave?

The above is a tree that is on the grounds of Historic Brattonsville plantation.  Saw it while visiting during a "By the Sweat of our Brows" program.  

Being from the Williamsburg Virginia area I have visited many plantations. I am always drawn to the old trees on the these plantations because they are living which mean they were THERE during slavery.  

It is always interesting to watch the folks dressed in garp of that day retelling stories from training sessions that taught them what happened on that plantation or during those times. THEN I look at the gnarled trees with their large canopies that just STAND there KNOWING what happened. 

This tree says --- LOOK AT ME ---- LISTEN TO ME ---- I KNOW!

Then I think ---- what will last when I'm gone?  What will say I was here? What legacy will I leave? What about you??? What will stand and tell your story when you're gone? I mean really...think about that.