JUST HOW IT FELL
Mom had visitors on Sundays. Her friends. Our friends. Food, music photos. Lots of slapping five while talking about history and current status of designing the infrastructure for the Struggle.
The visitors came when they could, and the folks who showed up on those days were perfect combinations of a life span of extended family, neighbors, friends, actors, musicians, activists, writers, and sometimes just us.
This particular Sunday, Susan Taylor, Kephra Burns, Ambassador Shabazz, Pamela Poitier, Sherri Poitier, and Gina Belafonte came to visit. That’s just how it fell. We sang Oh, Ruby, Ruby to her a la Smokey Robinson.
We talked, ate, laughed, and cried. Each of us took private moments with her. All of us surrounded her. Held her hands. Rubbed her arms and kissed her. While we were visiting, Mom said quite clearly and completely out of the blue: We who know enough about the past, know enough to hope. it was the last crumb she dropped.