Celebrating Lucille

My lifetime friend, Lucille Williams, left this earth on September 23, 2007. She was 97. An African-
American woman, she cooked and cleaned for my family from the time I was 4 months old until I was a teenager. For the past 20 years we spent many hours talking on the phone. We talked about our daily lives, our families, friends, the weather. Arthritis made walking difficult for her. I was and still am in a wheelchair because of a stroke that paralyzed my left side. Often I said: “I wish I could be there to help you, Lucille.” She always responded: “But Margaret, I wish I could be there to help you.” Neither was able to travel or help the other physically, but we could share our lives through talking, and for that I am deeply grateful. I will also spend the rest of my life thanking her for the love, friendship, and fruits of her wisdom that she gave me. I wrote the following poem to celebrate her 90th birthday:


A PROPER SENSE OF PRIDE

I celebrate you and your long and loving life, Lucille:
You who have triumphed over great troubles
And have found joy in every day;
You who have endured physical challenges
With steadfast determination;
You who have kept your faith in God’s love and goodness
Through all the years of your life, life that has seen
The deaths of mother, daughter, brothers, friends;
You who have grieved and gone on living,
Knowing death is just another door to life;
You who know God and His Angels are always at your side.
I celebrate you, my fine friend and inspiration.
I thank you on this special day
For all the gifts you’ve given me and others.
We are all blessed by knowing you.
Thank you for showing me
Through your brave and steady example
A proper sense of pride, self-respect, and honor
Despite the bitter racism in your life.
Thank you for the many meals you cooked for my family.
Please accept my gratitude for every one of them.
Thank you for being a tower of strength in my childhood,
A strength I could reach out and hold.
Thank you for the security your presence gave me.
Thank you for the comfort your presence gives me now.
Thank you for your bold honesty and hearty laughter.
Thank you. Thank you, Lucille, for your love.

Photo ©2003 Alan Kaye, Cairo, Georgia

The Angel By My Shoulder

Recently I received the following e-mail: “I was stunned by the picture of the angel by your shoulder on your website’s home page. My mother was critically ill with cancer in 1970. I was 16 at the time. Very early one morning my mother awoke in her rented hospital bed in our family room, as she often did because of pain. As she sat up in bed, she heard a voice whisper very loudly over her shoulder from behind, “Your faith has made you whole.” She always felt an angel had leaned over, as in your picture, to tell her those words. She made a gradual recovery, against all odds. Thank you for that picture. It was very moving to me.”

Her story moved me just as the picture on my website moved her. The picture is a collage by my friend Pat Bega who, in response to the e-mail, told me that the angel is Gabriel—painted by Fra Angelico—appearing to Mary to ask if she would be willing to be the mother of Jesus. Knowing this endows the collage with even more meaning for me. I have been aware of the presence of angels for most of my life, but the thought of an angel asking if I would be the mother of Jesus moves me profoundly. And my answer is a resounding yes. To me, Jesus is a personification of Divine Love, and I pray that Divine Love be born anew in my heart every day of my life. Thank you to the writer of the e-mail. Thank you, Pat. How busy the angels are, whispering in all our ears.

Listen.