I just finished Lackawanna Blues for about the 20th time... for those of you who have never seen it.... RENT IT!!! I grew up in a way like, Ruben, with a giant extended cast and characters of family and friends who helped raise me into the person I have become. And in the middle of all of those people, I was blessed with a Nannie!!! Roberta Charity Boleman Paul was Nannie. She was not our great grandmother, but she was great grandmother's sister who had a hand in raising her, her children and their children... I wish that my children would have known her!! Being loved by her was like being next to a crackling fire in the middle of a Chicago snow storm. She got into your soul and warmed you up!! Though she never had children of her own, Nannie was a mother through and through... she was giving, non-judgemental, even tempered, nurturing, full of love for all. There will never be another like her in my life... She is who I aspire to be as a woman, a mother, a worker, a christian, a human...
I'm watching this movie and laughing and crying all over again... praying that every person has or will have the chance to be blessed with a Nannie! That person who changed your life! That person you cannot imagine what your life would have been like without them in it... that person who saved you so many times... most of the time when you didn't know it. That undying inspiration to love and live with every bone in your body...
God bless you Nannie!!! I miss you so much!!! I hold on to your hugs and the sound of your voice, it keeps me warm on many cold days!!! I was blessed to have been loved by you and to have been taught by you! I thank God for sharing you with me!!!
Bye Bye Darlin', love you!! I love you too much! Too much!!!
