THE OBSERVATION BOOTH
OP / ED BY ANDREA DIALECT
THIS IS A PA ANNOUNCEMENT
JULIOUS CAESAR BROWN II
November 28, 1944 – December 4, 2022
Last night, when checking in on my mom as crafting this article, which by the way she didn’t know anything about at the time, my mother says to me, “Andrea, I want to tell you something,” and she told me this…
“A few days before the funeral I was laying in bed and Daddy came to me. He came to me in spirit, and I heard him in my ears loud and clear. I was stunned but I just listened. I asked myself is this for real or what; it was for real.
“His spirit traveled, and his spirit came to me because He wanted to tell me something. He said, ‘Doris I love you!’ He said, ‘Have fun! I love you!’ His voice was just as clear. He sounded like this… (Her words as mimicking His were in a beautiful singsong.) I can always visualize that. He gave me something. He left me something and that something makes me feel good. That’s what I’m connected to. I do not want to wear any black clothes or feelings. I’m wearing white and I wore off-white because that day was special.”
Have you ever heard the saying, “You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy?” My father was the poster child for that. Ironically, usually when death is lurking in the shadows; my mother or one of my sisters, Toy or Tamie, will get their heads up. Prior to my father’s passing, on the Eve of Thanksgiving, Toy had a dream that she was driving and looked over and she spotted my father walking in an open field, He had a big stick in his hand.
Toy: “I called out to him once, ‘Daddy,’ then again ‘Daddy,’ and he looked over at me and smiled, just like he used to when we’d see him walking downtown Paterson or somewhere once leaving the house. It was just like when we would call out to him ‘Daddy’ and he’d look over or back at us and smile. Remember he would stop to talk to us but this time he never stopped. He would always say ‘Nowhere!’ when we asked where he was going, and then he’d tell us about some long walk to the mountains or something.”
In the dream, He was wearing that beige jacket that he always usta wear and he had on some kind of button-up shirt under it and a pair of slacks, I can’t remember the color. I couldn’t see his feet because those tall beige color plants that you see in fields (ornamental grasses) were kinda tall. He was his younger self with the small afro, no gray and He was smiling but he never stopped walking.
In their dreams, both of my sisters told me that my dad was a younger version of himself, and he had his favorite beige jacket on that we all vividly remember. But in Tamie’s dream two weeks before his clothes weren’t as much of a focus.
Tamie: “I had gotten the call. But when I got to the house Daddy was sitting at the head of this long table and we all were sitting around it. I was confused and I said to myself, ‘What are they talking about Daddy ain’t gone, he’s right here.’ But, as I started walking towards him, he got up and as walking towards their bedroom he started fading away, then he was gone. When I looked back over at the chair it had all of our pocketbooks and coats and stuff on it. When I opened the door to the bedroom it was an office with a big desk and sitting behind it was the late Bishop Maxwell. There were files and papers on the desk, and he had a yellow envelope in his hand he looked up at me and smiled and then he said, ‘I was waiting for you to give you the papers. The papers are ready.’”
I too usually get a heads-up, but it doesn’t show up in the form of a dream, oftentimes I’m spiritually made aware somehow. It showed up for me around five or six o’clock the day before Daddy’s rise. My secondary phone rang which is a phone that I barely use or get calls on. I was pretty occupied at the time but for some reason, I was compelled to get up and answer the call.
The guy on the other end says hello I am such and such from such and such Publishing. I’m calling about your book “Shoemaker Brown Gets Down” (a book that I wrote about my Dad). We came across the book, and we are very interested in it. I told him that I wasn’t doing anything with it at the time due to issues that I had during production, and I had my reasons.
Obviously, he wasn’t impressed by my reasoning when he firmly suggested, “You need to do something with that book. You do know that you wrote that back in 2018 right?” Then he says once again, “Do something with that book. Then he ran off the usual closing spiel and that was that. How odd I thought at the time but now I know that it was not only prompting me to do something with Daddy’s book, but it was also the heads up. Unlike my mother’s hearing my father’s voice undeniably with clarity; Hearing Julious Caesar Brown talking through that so-called potential publisher is undeniable. That was my daddy talking!
I was sitting in the car days after the next encounter when the image of my grandmother came to thought. My parents had been covering us all our lives, all of our lives with prayer, and they were totally committed to God and this form of spiritual protection. Seeing the image of Bessie Mae Robinson was a dead-on reminder of the loss of such protection once again; reminding me of our having lost coverage when she made rise.
That’s when I heard that still voice say, and I quote. “You and the family have lost coverage once again. Somebody must pick up the mantle.” End of quote. And that’s when I knew. When we arrived in Raleigh NC on Saturday evening, we’d missed the official viewing arriving about an hour or so before closing. So, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. How comforting to see Mr. Brown wearing that big Kool-Aid smile on his face. It lit up the room removing the feel of blanketed sorrow. It was the first thing that I saw.
I was blessed enough to spend time with my father during this past Thanksgiving holiday. Although during my visit most of my time was spent playing his daddy and trying to foster his remaining independent. But had I known that he was bowing out gracefully opposed logically to adopting my suggested forceful check in I wouldn’t have spent that time and I would have really been spending time. I thank God that there were so many good times cast to memory, which have now become precious moments and I am so happy that we have more than enough to glean from.
I can’t remember which one of my sisters brought it to mind but one of His favorite songs was, “Oh, Happy Day” As he plucked those guitar strings, we as a family would accompany him. At church, we sang that song many times. But now we can really sing because it is such.
Undoubtedly, our hearts are heavy because we have lost someone very dear to us and that also means that we lost coverage which in today’s times is vital. But when I think of my father tears of joy trump all else. So, for our family and Mr. Brown, it is a happy day because, “All Bases Were Covered!” Still, my father’s commitment to people by distributing smiles, hope, and prayers must go on. I will take up that mantle best I could, but the world needs all of our help.
So, I ask that in remembrance of my Father Deacon Julious Caesar Brown the 2nd, that you too share a smile with those that you meet, those that you already know, and those that you love. Let’s go out there into the streets like my dad always did or even into our phone books and seek them out. It is so badly needed in this world. More importantly, let’s also give them the good news, teaching them to fish for themselves by telling them about God and living a Godly life so that they too can cover all bases. Let’s be the change.
Because of his legacy and dedication to God and humanity and our family, as pondering all those that he reached. In my mind’s eye, I can see my father’s wingspan to be massive and breathtakingly beautiful by measure. Daddy, in my mind’s eye you are in the meadows wearing your favorite beige jacket and that big smile, with that big stick in hand heading towards that path as if on another adventure. I will be deep belly laughing as I watch you in my mind’s eye mount up on those expanded wings and fly as eagles do. Soar Daddy, you are greatly missed.
This is a PA Announcement: A few days passed since December 4, 2022; it was my Daddy’s Grand Finale. Well done, Mr. Brown. Oh, Happy Day!
DID YA KNOW THAT…
Early morning we’d wake up on a Saturday or Sunday morning to him plucking on his guitar and singing one of his favorite songs. I can remember hearing Sam Cooke’s “The Hem of His Garment” time and time again.
When singing those songs, my daddy would elongate Sam’s words in that intro until they almost became unidentifiable. Holding the introduction to the “Woman that was there in the bible days” so long with all of that trembling and riffin’; that you could run into the kitchen, scramble eggs, eat em’ and make back in time to join in supporting the next note. That shall remain one of my fondest memories.
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