Mama JackieMama Jackie, I am so glad that the last time I was home I got to see you and tell you that I Love You and hug you. 1987 was the beginning of one of the greatest relationships that I will cherish for the rest of my days. That was the year that a young man from the bottoms of Memphis got to meet a most wonderful mother in South Memphis and the rest as they say would be history. With no hesitation you invited me into your house, you fed me, you let me lay my head down when I was tired, you taught me lessons of life, you inspired me, you comforted me at my lowest moments of the loss of my daddy, you lifted me up with laughter and joy, you celebrated the milestones in my life of marriage and children, you supported me for 24 years to the day of military service to this country, you encouraged me through my own battle with this cancer, you helped a loud, sometime ill-tempered but otherwise gregarious social butterfly become a man, husband, father and grandfather . But above all the preceding that you helped me become, I believe in my soul you entrusted me with your two most precious gifts to this world and told me to protect your daughter and your son. I still hear you telling me, “Alvin, don’t you let anything happen to my babies!” I hope I made you proud of the job you charged me with. You are a joy Mama Jackie, and there is something about you that I just can’t get enough of. I along with many others got to travel the highways with you for many years and you spent uncountable hours raising a tribe that surpassed your two and poured into each one of us in your own unique way that was specific to each of us just as if you bore us yourself. And on one of the greatest celebrations in our lives, I GOT TO DANCE WITH MY MAMA!!! Mama Jackie, you were our heartbeat and I must believe that we were yours as well. You gave me some skills that were necessary to not only be a survivor but a conqueror in this world and I will hold those skillsets close to my heart always. No matter where I went in this world, I knew when I was in Memphis, I was welcomed in Mama Jackie’s house and without missing a beat I would be fed. It is those things that I have learn to appreciate and will cherish. There are so many memories that I could speak of, but my heart is heavy because my Mama Jackie is at rest now. I take comfort in knowing that you said and did what would have been perceived as non-confirmative for the benefit of your children and all of you extended children. I take comfort in the fact that you gave when others took, that you loved when others hated, that you helped Mama when other hurt. In giving of yourself to serve all of us, you now get to receive all of what God has for you. As I put these word down I cry Mama, but I know that by God’s hands I have been blessed to have you in my life Mama Jackie and I can and will hold on to all of the Love, Lessons, Laughter and Life you gave me.1987 a young man from the bottoms of Memphis walked in the most loving house in South Memphis and met Mama Jackie for the first time and we became a FAMILY.I Love You Mama Jackie and May God hold you tight in his arms.Your Son
Alvin
