By #Gloria Faye Brown Bates / #Granny Gee
This morning ... my thoughts have traveled into the past to the time I was a young girl ... to my earliest memories of someone who said ... did something special to touch my life ... until the present.
I know I have forgotten as much as I remember throughout the years. I was sitting here, reflecting on how in the world can someone thank 'everybody' who has touched their life in the most special of ways ... to make it all better?
A lot of those people are gone, now. One being my favorite aunt ... whose soft, quiet voice stayed in my mind, through time. When I was a little girl, she would come to me ... say "Faye, one day ... you will be older, you can choose not to live in this kind of life". How I had wished she was my mother, too. I truly loved her. I loved my Aunt Frankie.
I watched as a little girl in Hell ... when she would come to visit her mother ... my Grandma Alma. Hell would try to suck her in ... making it hard to leave each time without being burned by the flames of harsh words ... or crushed by a physical fight. My Aunt Frankie wanted to stay above that.
She never knew this little girl admired her, loved her ... wanted to be like her. She came from Hell, herself ... when she left, she strived to be a lady. Of course, time to time she was pulled down ... she had no choice but, to fight to get out of the clutches of Hell ... it didn't like to let go of people who tried to be the best they could be ... be someone.
No, Hell hated 'goody-goodies' ... I was hated as I grew older. I damn sure wasn't a goody-goody ... I just wanted a life without Hell being raised ... that meant I was trying 'to be better than someone'. I wasn't better than anyone ... I just wasn't a ... Hellraiser; but, I learned real good ... I could raise Hell with the best of them. It didn't feel good ... I didn't.
It wasn't that I was a 'goody-goody' ... God knows I was led down a lot of roads that taught my ass many lessons. Roads that were terrifying ... damn, I had such a curiosity! I wanted to know how this ... how that could be. I couldn't imagine ... I wanted to see firsthand. I made turns on many roads I should have never ... turned on.
I saw firsthand ... I felt the sting of Hell on a lot of roads. I made mistakes ... not horrible ones ... but, the beginning of horrible ones until I decided I didn't want to be on the roads I was taking. I ran like Hell ... from Hell. I was always running ... you know, Hell is in a lot of places.
Hell is disguised in many ways. Beautiful, wonderful things ... lots of beautiful colors that attracted a young girl like myself. Sights, sounds ... oh, how I loved beautiful things ... oh, the roads I traveled on! How beautiful everything I had ... was; how beautiful I was!
Oh, the fun I could have had ... if only ... I'd been 'bad' enough. I wasn't as ... bad as I thought I could be. I wasn't tough enough to 'walk the talk ... talk the walk' ... (I probably said this wrong ... but, I'm good at that ... you know what I mean :) The most beautiful colors in the world ... the most awful consequences to pay.
I am glad I got off those paths ... though, I have to say this. I can't 'knock' everyone that was .... 'bad'. There are a lot of 'good-bad' people. We need them in this world we live in. Though, I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't agree ... I lived real life ... I have good-bad people to thank for being good to me. They were much tougher than I ... and understood my path needed to go in a different direction.
My friends, people I love ... care about ... are all birds of a different feather. None of them are the same ... they come from all walks of life ... none are so low that I wouldn't be proud to stand in public to speak to. So, if you see me talking to someone you can't believe I'd be seen with ... just know, you are only seeing the 'outside' ... there's good somewhere there ... you just can't see it.
You know the old saying ... my Grandma Alma used to tell me all the time ... 'birds of a feather stick together'. Looking 'at my birds of a feather' ... you wouldn't be able to 'see' why 'they are my birds of a feather' ...
None of us would look alike ... talk alike ... sound alike. We would all be many colors ... every size. Some would be dressed in the finest ... some wouldn't have anything fine to wear at all. Some live in the most grand of homes ... some don't have the luxury of a bathroom.
What you can't 'see' is the ... goodness, kindness, love ... caring, unselfishness ... all the 'birds of my feather' ... share.
That's what we all have in common ... sure, you'll think, 'okay, but ... so and so, has a bad reputation; so and so, drinks, drugs, and such; just keep this in mind ... so and so, could save your life ... do, say that little something that can make all the difference in your life. They wouldn't have to ... but, they would.
I love good people ... kind, honest, loyal people. They don't all look alike. Their feathers are all different colors ... some are smooth, clean & shiny feathers. Others ... well, sometimes, they are very poorly groomed feathers ... I don't judge their feathers. I only care about what can't be seen ... a good Heart.
These are the types of people I've seen, known through time ... that either said, did something that meant the world to me ... along with people who do look like me ... look like the 'birds of my feather' ... I wish I could be sure I thanked all of them ... of course, I can't. I just went on trying to do better, not make the same mistakes ... twice.
I have been molded, shaped by ... different birds of a feather. My colors change all the time ... yet, down deep ... I am the same person. A good, kind, loyal person who cares about everyone, everything ... unless it hurts a person, or animal. I won't go there ... that's Hell ... flaming Hell.
I guess what I'm getting at is ... everyone who has reached out to touch my life ... even in the smallest ... biggest of ways, I would like to say 'thank you' for caring. Yes, I know all I have are ... words; but ... my words are sincere. Thank you ... all you birds of my feather. We don't have to look alike to understand.
I wonder what my Grandma Alma would think of all my friends ... if she saw the 'birds of my feather stick together'? I am grinning as I ... wonder.
Photos/story owned, written by me #Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka #Granny Gee
I have always heard that birds of a feather stick together too! Sometimes it is bad and sometimes it is good. Sometimes a good one can say something good to a bad one and change their whole life. It takes all kinds of "birds" to make the world go round! I like you--I chose the "good bird" to be! Love, Ms. Nancy
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