Dedicated To Great Grandfather Giovanni

Mary In The Clouds

It is sometimes strange how events from one's past reveal themselves from behind the veil of memory from time to time and at the most unexpected moments to remind us of where and when our current talents or abilities were shaped and forged by the encounters with those we have joined with in this life as friends, family, lovers, neighbors, classmates, work comrades, or those very special ones we call enemies who mange to capture much of our thoughts, emotion and attention.

There was an event that occured while at one of the large family gatherings that were not uncommon at the home of my Great Grandmother and Great Grandfather's home.  They immigrated to the United States from a small town on the sea not so far from Palermo, Sicily in the later part of the nineteenth century.  Great Grandfather Giovanni was a bit of an odd ball.  A very gentle and quiet man who was also a devote Catholic and stood on his head appearing to me as a yogi from India.  He loved his gardening, wine making in the cellar and rolling his own cigars from whole tobacco leaves.

The time setting was in the early 60s.  I must have been around 6 years of age.  He called me Mikey and asked me to join him that evening outside the house on a hot summer night as a line of thunder clouds approached from the west.  Once outside, he said to me that I must help him to protect the home and the family from the storm. He looked at me very seriously and said that I could do this and that he would teach me to protect the family so that I could do this after he was gone from this world.  If my memory serves me, he did pass away within a fews months after that evening.  I have always had a sense that he had known his time on Earth was soon over and perhaps this moment in time was a gift that he gave to me that would one day be a comfort when those stormy times in our life approach.

I remember following him around the house on the city walkway being a curious child and always open to the learning of new things.  It was a corner city lot so we walked the length of two sides of the house.  He showed me how to make the sign of the cross in the air in the direction of the storm approaching to cut the storm and said that I was to invoke the name of the Holy Virgin Mother Mary and he gave me some words that I have since forgotten.  He said that the home and the family within would never be in danger if I were to do as he had just shown me.

I in truth have never done this during a thunderstorm since I have always been fearless in storms and have always had the firm belief that no harm would ever come to me or to those that I love.

Later in life as my healing abilities awakened and began to blossom, I have often invoked the name of Jesus or the Holy Mother, who I call, Virgin Mary, Mother of Light for those whom I know have a religious background or are firmly rooted in the Christain Faith.  Whenever done, I have often later heard stories of the person in need of healing being visited by beautiful Light Beings or a beautiful woman in white who would touch them and leave them with a great sense of calm and well being. 

I find it strange that this memory would be popping up in my waking consciouness lately and pressing on me to write about and to share the memory of this time and this person who was dear to me with others.  I have been a bit hesitant to write of something so personal and about Great Grandfather who often spoke Italian in the home and broken English to this grandchildren and great grandchildren.  My intuition has more often than not served me well so I have shared this with you the readers for whatever reason that may be and so be it.

Now, I have done the deed and dedicate this blog entry to the memory of Grand Grandfather Giovanni.  I believe that he was a sensitive, knowing man and saw the potential in me to do good acts.  As I reflect upon this event, I see him as a long line of mentors who have supported and guided me, helping me to develop talents and abilities that I would need in my future to do the tasks that I came to this Earth to do so that one day I would come into my own and hopefully be a blessing onto this world.  As I reflect upon my life, I see a series of encounters with some very remarkable people, each with a lesson to teach, each with knowledge to share. 

So, dear readers take what you will from my narration and perhaps you too have learned something of yourself and others through the sharing of my strongest memory of my dear Great Grandfather Giovanni.  A simple man of faith with a story to tell and knowledge to share, told and shared fifty years later, by his Great Grandson, Mikey.