It's was Men's Day!!!!!!

Yesterday was the 89th Annual Men’s Day at my church. What a festival we had! Every year the men of the church put on a special program. And we have a lot of men in my church…. They all coordinate their dress and ties. It’s really something. The picture above is of me and my grandfather. Mr. William Turner. Scroll down for my dedication to him. And don’t tease me either…I go to a strict church with no make-up or dangling earrings allowed. COGIC is no joke. So anyways….

As you can see I went as sharp as I could with all of the restrictions. I even wore my own hair lol… My Momma bought me the hat. She has great taste. Grandma brought me the Purse LOL…I wore red and gold from head to toe…inside and out (if you know what I mean) I was surprised a lot more women didn’t dress to the nines…I mean it was Men’s Day…But I guess I’m the only Jezebel…As you can see by the shape of the suit…I’ve lost a lot of weight but whatever…it’s an 8 but I think I’m hovering around a 4 now…My Auntie Bobo will take it in for me..Do u read my blog Auntie? (I think she does…and my Auntie Pam too) If yall do read the blog…you are hereby instructed to come to KT on Oct 26th for Annual Women’s Day. I’ll be singing in the choir. Oh and Auntie Bobo…I need you to take in my White and Gold suit too. We all have to wear white and I’m going to dress the twins in white too…LOL I gets my church on!

So back to Men’s Day. What a spirit filled day it was. There was an all male choir. They sang yall.. It was crazy. Like their baritone voices rose above the balcony and sailed out into the clouds hanging over Harlem. And my grandfather was up there too. Wow. To see so many men singing about a love for Jesus was just incredible.

The opening Preacher was Elder K. B. from South Carolina. He spoke on Genesis 3:6. Yeah…the one where Eve gives Adam the apple. When he announced it…I will admit I was a little hesitant. I was wondering if this sermon was to tell men to be wary of temptation…from a woman…LOL Yes I know…it was a Hebrew Israelite flashback. But he actually used it to tell about how once they ate the apple…Adam and Eve learned shame…and fear….and decided to hide themselves from God. To me that showed that they learned stupidity too. How you gonna hide from God and he made you? Messing around with the serpent will turn you dumb. He also preached about hearing God walk. You may wanna read the scripture so u'll know what I’m talking about. It was deep.

At the evening session…. (Hell Yes I went back!) …They had the Grand March. That’s when all the men march around the church. Well it started out as a march…and ended up the Soul Train Line. Chile them mens were dancing down the aisle…Some stepped like they were in a fraternity and some did a tambourine salute (you had to be there) …But it was a beautiful sight. Our Hispanic brother Emilio marched without his cane…which was a joyous sight. Our two Caucasian brothers, Art and Daniel, were also in the march…and seemed to keep in step most of the time... But they love the church…and we love them. Grandaddy Bill marched too…no dancing but he smiled a lot when he saw me.

The women? After the men marched…put on such a shouting display it looked like the AKA’s, Delta’s, Zeta’s and all the rest of them stomping women were out there! LOL (I love yall). I couldn’t take pictures because it would have been rude. But I sure wish I coulda shouted with them. I really need to learn!

All in all it was a great day. I was in church from 11am-8:30pm. I was complimented by men from age 18-80 LMAO…”you sure is wearing that red Sister Diva” LOL I was hugged twice too tight by the married soloist and kissed on the cheek by the new handsome YOUNG minister ( Both of them are in the pic…and not the man singing lol...I will only disclose via email LOL) I will admit…these things bothered me a bit…because if anyone knows me …They know I am not fond of physical contact by the opposite sex unless I know you…know you. And even if the minister is single….I vowed to stay out of the 20-28 range…..And I reached out my hand to both for a handshake…and both pulled me in.. Hmmmm…I’ma have to watch both of these brothers carefully… The Soloist kissed me on the lips last year…before I knew he was married…and I didn’t know it was coming…He did it so quick and I was sitting in my car….I told Grandma and she said it was a “saved kiss”. The only “saved kisses” on the lips I know are between a man and a wife…Nah…I’m gonna keep my distance from Mr. Soloist. His wife is on the Ursher Board and you know those women have eagle eyes! I don’t need no ish in my life. Lord Have Mercy! But hey...now that I'm looking at this picture...the organ player is fine too...LOL...Hmm....I always wanted piano lessons...I'm such a flirt...and I'm just kidding..... ...... ....... LOL

My Grandfather

I just wanted to post a special piece to him.

I have known Mr. Turner since I was 5 years old. He was my Grandmother’s boyfriend. I say was because she moved to Memphis and left him here about 4 years ago. Cold right? She never claimed him as her man….but I think she’s regretting it now. But anyway… Bill as we’ve called him..has always been in our lives. He has no children. He has no family in New York except for all of us. He has only one sister who lives in Virginia. He always had a steady job. After he retired from the Police department where he worked as a janitor, he worked in the Post Office as a Mail Handler until they forced him to retire from there too. For the past 27 years…I cannot imagine a family function without Bill. I can’t remember a time when we needed him and he wasn’t there for us. My grandmother raised 10 grandchildren by herself in the 80’s and 90’s. But she wasn’t always by herself. Bill was there everyday. Having no children of his own, he psuedo-adopted everyone of us. He bought vans instead of cars…so that he could drive all of us to church…in time for Sunday School…every Sunday. He drove the little ones up the hill to school every morning. He would change his work schedule to accomodate us. Any time you needed to go somewhere…Bill would be there. He drove me and my best friend Tusharra down to Virginia for a 3 college tour…We were the only tourists LOL. He drove me and all my stuff to Philadelphia to Temple. Then came back to get me when I was ready to come home. And drove my grandmother down once a month to visit me in Philadelphia and over to Franklin Mills so we could shop.

Every year, for about 6 years..Bill brought my Grandmother an engagement ring. Every year she turned him down. I couldn’t understand her reasons. This man had money whenever she needed it, did everything he could for her including pedicures in front of the TV while they watched CBS. I used to make a joke about his “foot tools” in his front shirt pocket. Bill was always prepared…Now of course…after we kids would go to sleep…and grandma was relaxed…you know what was going down….But never in front of us…They always kept the illusion. But I won’t even try to understand why she never acknowledged him.

He did do some strange stuff...Like he used to bring her cleaning supplies that he would pilfer from the Police Academy. Now I always got a kick out of it cause I thought Bill was sticking it to the "man" LOL...Well.. Bill would put the liquids into what ever container he could find. One day we came home from church and all the kids were excited because we had seen Bill put all this soda under the kitchen cabinet before we left for church. So we were looking foward to cold glasses of soda when we got home. Yup...You guessed it...Bill put the Pine cleaner in the Pepsi bottle and the Ammonia in the Sprite bottle. We had glasses filled with ice and was ready to pour. Thank God Jermaine was the only one who liked Sprite and he smelled the ammonia before we could pour the Pine/Pepsi. We almost didn't believe him cause he was the "slow" cousin.....Ok so sometimes Bill didn't think. My grandma wanted to KILL BILL...LOL...Bill was banned for 2 weeks....and the time he told me and my cousin Lenora we couldn't go swimming at Colonel Pool (Pronounced Ca-low-nee-all) on Edgecombe..."I don't know about that there 3 feet" is a classic quote!

All I know is that I need acknowledge him. I let everyone in church know that Mr. Turner is my grandfather. I had to. He is a wonderful man and has attended all of my special events (graduations, children’s birth and birthdays, wedding reception). Always there. The look on his face when I introduce him as my Grandfather? Priceless. So proud. So connected. I don’t think any of my 40 some odd cousins claim him. But I do…And will always continue to do so. And when I call him up to say “Grandaddy, how u doing?” and the phone call is short and sweet….I know that I made his day…..

He is one of the reasons I set my bar so high for the men in my lovelife to reach.

William Turner….my grandfather….one of the strong men in my life …..And I’m so grateful to have him…..He turns 70 this year…Thank the Lord for his presence in my life.