Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Early Birthday Gift Pulls Heartstrings

Clent, previously J’Moo on the Not Shady Just Fierce blog comments, has been one of my closest friends for over 25 years. He formed a third of the holy trinity that was Bobby, he and I. Both Clent and I will be away for my August 5th birthday and so I asked him to join me for dinner last Thursday. He attended and brought along a wonderful gift – a framed picture of Bobby and I taken some years back. When I stared at the picture in the cherry wood frame I felt my eyes water and looked up from it to see Clent’s eyes were glassy too. As UN-mushy as I am, I really was pleasantly surprised and touched by such a well-thought out gift. Following this, Clent called me at the office Friday and offered to treat me to see the Clark Sisters at Riverside Church in Harlem last night. The VIP seats – shoulder-to-shoulder with Phylicia Rashad no less – were GREAT and the Clark Sisters (a longtime favorite gospel group of mine) did not disappoint. As we laughed and chatted throughout the concert (yeah, we’re rude like that sometimes) we both thought about how much Bobby would have loved the Clark Sisters last night. Turns out he did because our chatting about him made it feel like the three of us were there. Thank you for a great birthday gift.

On Blast
It’s like he was there…we joked about Bobby – even used lines he would have used at certain times during the concert last night. I think our ability to make light and make Bobby present keeps him alive for us…
Do you find yourself speaking of a dearly departed soul in the present?

Keep passin’ the open windows…

6 comments:

Ty said...

I'm so mad at you right now. How dare you not tell me that the Clark sisters were in town. Arrrrrgh. LOL but seriously though

Unknown said...

I know...jump on Facebook and friend me...and you know I'm on Twitter as CocoaRican..I posted pics last night as it was going on. We have to also exchange numbers so I can call you for these events. It was soooo worth staying out late on a work night.

Shannon Lee said...

What a wonderful gift Hector! I'm so glad you enjoyed the night out w/your boys!! My mom, daughter and I speak of and to my father all the time as if he were still here...it brings us so much comfort when some of his expressions come out of our mouths without thought. It makes us feel so much closer to him and makes the grief a little less painful.

iii said...

Cocoa,
Enjoy your 40th B-day next month. I wish you many, many, more. And Have a blast in PR too!! Loved the Cocoa Cure segment.

Lata

Kensilo

Tyhitia Green said...

Cocoa,

I've seen you on everyone else's blog and finally stopped lurking and decided to say hi! :-) I just clicked on the link and now I'm following your blog. I love it! :-)

You are great! And I love what you said about negative people because I'm experiencing that right now. I just got married in March and I'm working on my book. So I hope to see you in N.Y when I get my major book deal and come to N.Y. to meet with my publisher. :-)

I love the Clark sisters!! That's awesome. Enjoy Puerto Rico. :-)

Unknown said...

Thanks Demon Hunter...took a peek at your blog and looks like you have a nice spot going on there as well. I'm following.