Spirit of...

Sometimes you miss out on the spirit of folks.. You don’t know that in a short time, their memory will be etched into your psyche for a long long time. You’ll wish you had watched a little longer or sat with them during those times when you walked away because your mind was elsewhere.. Or maybe you were just like me; too young to appreciate anything around or in front of you… There I was, a small child in the midst of grown folks having a party… BBQ dominating the air and smelling so sweet… Good funky soul music spinning on the stereo, long before CD’s and such. And in the middle of all this was Uncle Pete, made infamous thru memories shared by myself and my uncle Richard… Uncle Pete had a way of dancing that was not only on the beat and entertaining, he had style. It was comical too. He preceded those that sort of remind me of his style of dancing. Folks like Sherman Hemsley of the Jeffersons television show, Martin Lawrence when he would do that funny dancing, and this music artist from the seventies that sang about a few dances like the funky chicken and the breakdown. His name was Rufus Thomas. Uncle Pete was like those three and then some. He commanded the dance floor with his funny style, feet stomp to the beat, right on time, serious look on his face, sometimes wiggling and rubbing his hands up and down his pants legs. Then when you throw into the mix, his wife Ethel who resembled Aunt Esther on Sanford and Son, you really got a show going on right in front of your eyes... Those were the days; good times I didn't realize I had. Uncle Pete passed away a long time ago but for some reason his memory has been coming around lately. I appreciate the visit...