"........; but the Lord thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the Lord thy God loved thee.
Prologue - That which has come before;
just a brief re-cap... from where I left off last time.
.....I had alot of anger inside me, and it served me well in my struggle to survive,... especially later... when Mom showed up out of the blue one day, and whisked us away to Kalamazoo, Michigan... Her, and Ronny, as we called him in those earl days,..... had gotten married......
and suddenly, We had a step father.
....From this point forward.... my life, and the lives of my sister, and brother,... is going to change in ways that nobody in our family could ever have imagined...Otherwise I have to believe, that somebody would have done... whatever it would have taken, to rescue us somehow,... from the hell on earth, we had just been transported to.
At this point, I feel the necessity... once again, to take care of a little house keeping so to speak...Or in the language of most of us common folk today...And in light of the Liberal's need for "Political Correctness" ...Let me make a C.Y.A.* move, lest I stand accused of being a racist bigot???
.........*Cover Your Ass*......
I suppose , I would have to plead guilty to the charge, in respect to the cultural bias / prejudice, that comes from being raised in a small town, in a briar hopper family, whose heritage leans towards that all too familiar, southern mindset associated with that generation...
...We were Hillbillies,.. Ridge Runners,... whose ancestors, are traced back to the coal mining communities of Kentucky... Rural, Eastern Appalachian Kentucky.
....What in the world am I talking About???
....I guess, there wouldn't have been a whole lot of difference... in comparison to, the culture shock I would have endured...If I had been dropped off on... "The Planet Of The Apes," (No pun intended), rather than being moved from Franklin Ohio, Population 11,000 to Kalamazoo, Michigan, population 50,000 +.
Its not so much, the difference in the size of the towns,... as it is, the demographic differences, the racial makeup, and the socio economic environment,... that came with the territory,... of now being, "Children From A Broken Home."
... A phenomenon that was becoming... far too common place amongst the baby boom generation.
...Just FYI ; "DIVORCE" WAS UNIMAGINABLE, AND UNHEARD OF IN OUR FAMILIES EXPERIENCE AT THAT POINT IN TIME!"...That held true on both sides. No one on Mom's side, or my Dad's side of the family had ever been divorced up until then. We were now, social outcasts...The Black Sheep of the families!
April 6 / 7 2008
2:45AM Sunday Night - Monday Early Morning.
First, Let me apologize for taking so long in getting back to the story....I had no idea, the emotional toll that I was going to have to pay, as I travel back in time to people, places and things.... that I never planned on re-visiting again ever...!!!
And today,.....It hit me light a bolt of lightning, The light bulb appeared above my noggin, just like in the cartoon balloons... Can You Picture that???
....Believe you me, I was just as shocked as you are, and then I was amazed!
WOW , I GET IT!!!
And guess where I was, when I got it?
It was one of the points, in Pastor Al's sermon today......."ACCOUNTABILITY"!
IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME,... SINCE I WAS WILLING,... TO PLACE MYSELF, IN A POSITION OF ACCOUNTABILITY!
When I started revealing honestly, all this junk in the trunk, it puts truth... right out on front street, for every one to see...In other words...NO MORE LIES!...NO MORE DECEPTION...
Just Blessed freedom.. It totally, disarms the enemy... from ever, being able to grip my heart, with fear,.... ever again!!
... I don't have to live my life in fear, over what's gonna happen???... If someone finds out??
... It may not be pretty, but it sure is liberating.
... Being accountable, doesn't bring you into bondage...It sets you free,.. to be,.. .YOU!
Wow, what a revelation!
Now lets get back to the story now that we've chewed the fat over that little tid bit of truth.
You see, I really wasn't raised by Archie Bunker types to be out and out racist in my outlook on people of color or those that were different than me. It was real subtle in fact.
You see, the deal is...I was never raised around black folk in my entire life. In fact, There was only one black girl that I had ever gone to school with and that was in the 3rd grade or 4th grade at Carlisle Elementary when I was living at my grandparents, when My Mom and Ronny ran away to Michigan.
I'm guessing now that maybe you are beginning to feel me when I say it was a complete culture shock after Momma came and got us and moved us to Michigan.
...Now I'm living in a neighborhood that has just as many black folks living in it as it has white people. Not only that...I was enrolled in the 4th grade at Roosevelt Elementary and there are way more black students than there are white students.
....The school was only a few blocks from where we lived on Phelps Ave and it was in walking distance. There was no lunch room at Roosevelt so I would walk home every day to eat lunch, and then walk back to school again to finish out the day. Thats two trips to school and two trips home that I walked back and forth every day....In a predominately black neighborhood, going to a predominately black school. I was 10 years old with a very strong southern drawl accent, being the new kid on the block and I was a hillbilly. A term heretofore, that I was not very familiar with. You beginning to get the picture here?
I am not kidding you a lick when I tell you that I literally spent the first two months literally fighting for my life and for survival 4 times a day...On the way to school in the morning, on the way home for lunch, on the way back to school, and then on the way home in the afternoon at the end of the school day.
Well running out of steam here so I'll try to catch a little sleep and get back to this on the morrow...It's 5:00AM
April 9, 2008 Michael II's Birthday (God Bless Our Troops In the Military & Keep them SAFE!!!!) Wednesday 2:45PMIn those early days as a new arrival in our neighborhood and at school, there was a pretty serious learning curve. Life was not the same and never would be the same as it was ever again.
After you realize that, you can then begin to adapt....or be destroyed...I chose ....."WHEN IN ROME, DO AS THE ROMANS DO."
....There was a lot of fat lips, black eyes and bloody noses in those days...But rarely was I, that was wearing them...My tormenters learned real quick that I was no easy mark, or some punk they could just beat down. I got my respect!!!
....I had just been enrolled into the school of hard knocks. I learned my lessons well, and I learned them fast. I still bear many of the scars...not unlike school credits, that I would need and have to accumalate in order to survive... and to graduate from that cruel task master.
... I learned the hard way what that saying meant........."LIFE IS A BITCH...AND THEN YOU DIE!!!!!
....Actually, It wasn't all bad....You already have come to the conclusion I'm sure that it certainly wasn't..."ALL GOOD"...as they say today.
...There was a sense of adventure and exploration that came with this new and very different life that my Brother & Sister and I were thrust into.
...We had new Family members that we came to know and love....Ronnie's Family was from Kalamazoo...I reckon that's how we wound up here, Duh!!
Anyways...There was Grandma Pellowe, Uncle Duane, Aunt Chestine, And Aunt Sheena. Her and her 3 Kids lived next door to us, right there on Phelps Ave., where I spent the majority of my childhood years growing up.
Aunt Sheena's three girls became our 1st cousins. There was Melony, Robin, and Sherry. They are all still a very important part of our lives today. But we will wait until later to go into more detail about them and the awesome Plan that God has had for their lives. Its not "All Good", but its AWESOME!
I guess this is as good a place to end this one as any....I will try and pickup from here next time!
May the power and the Peace Of God, that passes all understanding Rule in Your Hearts Now & Forevermore!
Michael
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