Enjoying the opportunity of silence and reflection, a old dream came to focus. My mother passed away four days after Thanksgiving, in 2007. She died of lung cancer and the good news is her suffering was short lived. She had the most beautiful dimples, beautiful smile and very strong. A very beautiful African American, Black, Negro Woman. Being defeated by life was not an option, and she stood strong to the very end of her earthly life. I miss her and our many laughs together and I miss her strength. Thinking back, as an young adult, I would warned those that thought they could make my life difficult, that my mother will loved to meet them. Doris Jean Godfrey, was no joke, she would make the caffeine in coffee nervous. I really miss her now, because although she was not the lean on your shoulders type, she knew the right words that would make you go out and ask the world, you and what army? I need those right words right now mommy Jean and Jesus Christ.
The Nudity of Paradise is where I last saw my mom. First, some background history of my family. Our family was a women's family. Imagine a family of Southern Black Baptist Women. Now my mom, well that was a whole different story, her nickname was gypsy. She was not a person that would stay in one place, nor be tied down to any particular location. She was all over the place. Also, she was very stylish, she should have been a fashion model or a movie star. At some point, I thought she was. So whatever Jean Brown (her maiden name) wanted to do, Jean Brown did. I am beginning to see some of our similarities. Regardless, Jean was real, you knew exactly how she felt and you always knew the truth. Her walk was her trademark and you could spot my mother, miles away, no one and I mean no one walked the way she walked. Instead of Cancer, she should have had issues with her hips, because she moved those hips from left to right, just as much as she smoke. Anyway, that was my mother and even after her last breath, she was still running the show.
Now her Roman Catholic daughter (me), was explaining the rules of baptism to her one day. She was going to be baptize as a Baptist, within a month of her returning back to the church. I said Mom, what Baptist church do you go to? She asked what do you mean? I don't have to go to no church to get baptize. Child, the pastor comes and read me the word and in the next two weeks, I will be baptize, and that is exactly how it happen. My mother could turn dirt into gold and people love her for that. My mother had four daughters, one passed away while giving birth to a baby boy, which also died during the process. But my mother was the only one that kept her emotions under control, I don't know what she did when she was alone, but most of the time, she was always amongst family and friends. Her personal feelings were personal and only she knew, what was going on in her own life.
So, our mother passed away and there was this big argument on what picture was going to be on her program. My oldest sister of course pick more of a conservative portrait, my younger sister, well she picked a picture that represent Doris Jean Brown- Godfrey. It was a picture, where she had on a two-piece bikini and she was leaning up against a rock, as a young teenager. So, I watch as they battle it out. My younger sister was out-number, because the church folks and the remaining elders, had they say in the matter as well. However, my younger sister stood her ground and programs were passed out with my mom wearing her bikini and a smile that lit up the world. Yes, there was judgemental glares, but what was most important, our mom had her funeral her way.
A couple of years later, I had a dream of my mom in Paradise. My first glance, it was that same picture that was on her funeral program and actually, I was trying to recognize where I saw her face before. As I was going through my memory log, I had turned to my left and I saw a Caucasian male in the nude, walking toward this waterfall. I turned around to say something to this other person and I recognize who she was, as she was pulling off her bikini. I gasp, my mom had a very nice shape and she was in her teenage years, but she was still my mom. She smiled at me and continue to walk towards the waterfalls, just like the man before. I followed and as I turned the corner, she jump off this cliff and there below was the most beautiful picture, that anyone could imagine. I have not seen anything so beautiful in any painting, photograph or museum that could best describe that scene. Water sparkling like gold, everything was just shimmering. Lushes green all over the place, it was immaculate. The worst part of the dream was, I woke up from it. It was truly an oasis.
What prompted this long post is, that "in the beginning when God created Adam and Eve in Genesis, prior to the expulsion from the "Garden of Eve" is it possible, that we have excommunicated ourselves from the Garden of Eve, with the might of our own will, regardless of our good works?
We don't look at nude as a beautiful image of creation, nor is nudity represented properly. However, nude is beautiful, if shown as a work of art created by God. Do we understand what nudity is really about? Have we turned our sight into Gotham City or Golgotha, that we no longer know the real meaning of beauty? Now, that the land of milk and honey has been found, it time to search for the most beautiful place in the world, the creation of God's Paradise.
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