Love in Black and White

Our bodies are illusions, ya know.  Smoke and mirrors.

Have you ever met someone and had a familiar feeling?  Have you ever looked into the eyes of a stranger and thought, "You are so familiar to me...  I KNOW you!" ?

Happens to me all the time.  It's 'cause I HAVE met that somebody before.

When I found this dress I gasped and clutched it to my chest.  I whispered, "You are so familiar to me, Oh Gorgeous Dress.  I KNOW you!"

Then I turned to the stranger next to me and said, "AHHHHHH! MIIINNNE! I was MEANT to own this dress!  It's destiny!"

I couldn't help myself.

The stranger was jealous. I could tell.  So I stuck my tongue out and did a raspberry.  (That's a lie. No tongue. No raspberry.)

This dress is a SILK 1940's HANDMADE MIRACLE.  I paid $35 with real money from my wallet.  I didn't even trade the old things in my closet for NEW old things.  I paid CASH MONEY, HONEY.

At first I couldn't zip it up because I've gained 5lbs of Holiday Winter Coat.  I had my husband strap me in.  I can't breathe, but oxygen is highly over-rated.  Some things are more important than others. 

This dress is my favorite thing EV-ER in the world!

I'll tell ya a sad, triumphant, romantic tale about this dress.

Once upon a time there was a man and a woman madly in love.  Sue Ellen and Jimmy.

They were up in heaven and hadn't been born yet.  They were excited for a new adventure.  They wanted bodies.  They wanted a chance to be like The Gods.

"Promise me you'll find me, Jimmy," said Sue Ellen.  "Promise me you'll help me through this veil of tears!"

"I'll find you, my love.  I'll find you and we'll be together forever.  I promise."

They stared deeply into one another's eyes memorizing every ounce of truth in the soul of the other.

Jimmy and Sue Ellen were born in 1946 in a small town in South Carolina.

Sue Ellen was born into the family of a well-to-do Congressman.  She was given every advantage a girl could desire.

This was Miss Sue Ellen's dress.  She wore it to her Cotillian agaisnt her mother's wishes.

"But Darlin,"  said her mother.  "Cotillian dresses are supposed to be white!  What will The Community think if you 'come out' in a blue dress?"

"I want to wear this dress, Mama!  I won't have a cotillian at all if I have to wear a stuffy white dress with gloves!  I refuse to look precious and sweet for the sake of The Community!"    She stamped her foot.

Miss Sue Ellen was the Katie Scarlett of the county.  Every young man vied for her attentions.  Suitors made fools of themselves in attempts to win her affection.  They lined up in droves at the family plantation for a chance to dance with the lovely belle at her party.

Miss Sue Ellen danced with several boys to appease her parents and their stuffy friends.

Then she slipped out the door in need of some fresh air.

That's where she met him for the first time on this Earth.

He was carrying a tray of mint juleps to the guests that mingled on the white wooden porch that stretched around the house.

BUMP! CRASH! SPLASH!

They collided.

Glasses flew in every direction.

"Lawd!  Are you alright, Miss Sue Ellen?  I'm mighty sorry!"

She looked up, "Why, I'm just fine!  Clumsy me!  I swear I have two left feet someti....". 

Their eyes met.

The world stopped turning.

There was a clap of thunder and lightening filled the sky. 

There was a jolt and a remembering of forgotten promises.

"You are so familiar to me!  I KNOW you!" she whispered.

True Love knows no boundaries. 

Jimmy was a Negro boy.  That's the word they used back then.

In the eyes of Sue Ellen's parents and The Community at large, Jimmy had no business so much as licking Miss Sue Ellen's boots.

Their Love was a dangerous one.  Miss Sue Ellen's father belonged to a group of men who dressed as ghosts in the black of night and brought destruction to the innocent who dare over-step Man Made boundaries.

For a year the young lovers met secretly.  They suffered greatly and knew this union could not be.  Yet they could not deny the Power they felt.

I am loathe to tell you they were discovered making love in the woods one summer night.  I don't want you to think badly of Miss Sue Ellen.  She wanted to be chaste and pure. Really, she did! But her passion for Jimmy filled her with a burning that could only be quenched by his touch.

When they were discovered, Jimmy ran.  He hid.  Death was imminent.

Sue Ellen's screams could be heard for miles as her own punishment was carried out.

"PLEASE, DADDY!  NO!  PLEASE! I LOVE HIM!"

She was finally left to herself.  Battered. bloody. broken.

She ran away that night. 

She heard the dogs and men with torches in search of the man she loved.

I don't know if she ever found him.  Perhaps they found each other and escaped.  Perhaps they made a life together in Yankee territory. 

Or perhaps she ran in the direction of the dogs and men.  Perhaps she ended her own life when she saw the horrors that had befallen her love at the hands of Demons in White sheets. 

All I know is that this life is a sleep and a forgetting.  Our existence here is the blink of an eye in the face of Eternity.

We are not who we think we are.  Sue Ellen is not a cultured, white Southern Belle.  Jimmy is not a downtrodden, poverty-stricken black boy.

I am not a Mexi-Half Breed blah blah blah...

YOU are not merely the body that holds your spirit. 

We are housed in these tabernacles of clay and begin to believe that flesh is all we are. 

We begin to believe our worth is a direct reflection of the mirror.  Not so. 

We are Gods and Goddesses with Divine Worth.  We are meant to Love.  We are meant to search for Light and Meaning in this darkened world.

Sue Ellen and Jimmy are safe now.  Together. 

They passed the test with flying colors.

THAT was MEXICAN!

Went to a house warming party for my cuz, Alex, on Saturday. Alex is a single dude. Bachelor pad, yo. Nice place.

I had to bring my kids. No one else brought kids. Just me. And my husband didn’t go.

Sucked for a minute.

But LO AND BEHOLD the Mexican neighbors were having a birthday party for their 5 year old. They had a JUMPING CASTLE!

My kids were like, “Mama! WEEEEEE wanna jump on that pretty sweet jumping castle!”

I was like, “We don’t KNOW those people! We can’t just go over there and ask to play on their toy!”

My Aunt Veronica overheard. (Alex’s mom. She’s gorge and a super smart micro biology major.)

“Yes. We can. Let’s go.”

So I was like, “Um. Yes. We can. Let’s go.”

We went.

It was a Mexican family. The house was full of Mexicans of all shapes and sizes.

My Aunt just straight-up knocked on the door and said it like it was. (In Spanish, of course..) “My niece’s kids want to jump on your BRINCA BRINCA. Is that Ok?”

We were immediately met with warm smiles and hot dogs and alcoholic beverages.

My Aunt Veronica said, “Oh. Thank you, but I don’t drink. I’m crazy enough as it is…”.

Ha! That is EXACTLY what I say when I’m offered alcohol! Wild (and true)!!! ( I had not previously realized we had that in common.)

So my kids jumped and Vero and I sat and ate delicious, grilled hotdogs and chatted. We chatted with each other and the lil birthday boy and all the women in the vicinity.

Then the power went out without warning and the jumping castle began to deflate at warp speed with the children still having a grand experience within. There were shrieks of both delight and terror as the castle went down.

Men were jumping over tables and holding onto their cowboy hats for dear life… “LOS NINOS!” They were like, SAAAAAAVE THE CHILDREN!

Once my own kids were safely outside the Brinca Brinca of Death I had a giggle fit as I watched men and women diving into the deflated edifice to rescue their little ones. I shouldn’t laugh. It’s not funny. But everyone made it out alive so…. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Fun was over.

Back to Alex’s house we went. (Not that Alex’s place wasn’t a blast… Thanks for the invite, cuz:)

I relayed the story to my full-blooded Mexican cousin, Rosa Maria She is absolutely stunning and had just THAT DAY acquired her Master’s Degree from the U of A.

She said, “You are SO MEXICAN! I try not to perpetuate stereotypes but THAT was MEXICAN!”

Her sister was like, *gasp* *laugh* “That is so racist!”.

I said, “Some stereotypes exist for a reason…”.

Then we all busted a gut regarding the deflation of a nation and men hurdling tables.

So are we right? I’ve been called racist before. I’m not scuuured a you. Just tell me what you think.

Do WHITE people do these things?

See, I’m all confused because the WHITE side of me is all like, “OMG! I would sooo never knock on somebody’s door and BEG to use their stuff! HOW RUDE! I mean, have some CLASS!”

But the Mexican side of me believes children are children and sharing is caring. ? Huh? I guess I just know that Mexicans accept all children as their own. It takes a village…. Ya know? Mexicans will generally give you the shirts off their backs and the wienies on their grills.

Make sense of the following for me, would ya? Then tell me what you think.

Like for instance, say you’re WHITE and there is a birthday party next door with a super sweet jumping castle. And say you don’t know the neighbors from ADAM because they are not even YOUR neighbors! And say your kids REALLY REALLY REALLY want to play on that stinkin’, rubber eyesore…

Would you knock on the door? Invite YOURSELF in and THEN eat their FOOD? (So as not to be rude, of course?)

Or for instance, let’s pretend you’re WHITE again.

What if a hoard of brown-ish kids and two brown-ish women come a-knockin’ at your door when you are celebrating your child’s 5th birthday? I’m sure you’d let them in, of course. BUT would you exchange glances with others as if to say, “THESE BROWN PEOPLE JUST INVITED THEMSELVES! ”

And If you offer hotdogs out of courtesy would you then think, “Wow. Have these people NO SHAME?” as you watch them devour the little wieners?

I’m just wonderin’… I’m always wonderin’ SOMETHIN’. So… set me straight. AND BE HONEST!  Call me racist, if you must, but say it LIKE IT IS! I can take it.

I suppose what I’m alluding to is IF you are indeed WHITE, and you would have NO PROBLEM crashing someone else’s jumping castle… and IF you would also find no social ill in sharing your Brinca Brinca with random brown people THEN you are SOOOO MEXICAN!