Good Day, This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. It is also the first anniversary of the day that my precious Sheadrick Kenyetta (Skip) Hannah went home to be with our Lord. I MUST rejoice and be glad in that too! For if God needed an angle, he could not have found one better. Skip LOVED God and he loved children and could spend days romping and playing with them because he too was a child. He could make them laugh when no one else could and always gained and gave love and trust. He had a child of his own that he truly loved! As mischievous a child as Skip was, I took great delight is listening to him tell his daughter Aja right from wrong. He would explain to her how he acted up in school and how it cost him years of his life and how he didn’t want that to happen to her. He told her of the times when he DID NOT listen to his mother, bother and teachers and how he lived to regret it when all he had to do was be obedient. I tried to hold back the laughter but these words coming from the mouth of MY Skip were too much for me to contain. On one occasion when he finished talking with Aja, he came to me and said, “Mom, I know that I did a lot of things wrong and I know that my head was hard but I am trying to do better. You know, all of the things that I went through, I don’t want Aja to go through that.” I CRIED and I am not a bucket-of-tears kind of person! We talked for hours that day and he and I came to a much better understanding of our world and ourselves. I recognized that his understanding of God was a lot deeper than he wanted me, and other people, to believe. He also said and did a lot of things for attention and inclusion into circles that he thought were important in this earthly realm; not that he actually believed what he was saying. He truly knew and believed in God but his faith was not strong enough for him to stand his ground within his circle of friends. He knew that his family loved him but he needed to hear it more often because of insecurities. He wanted to accomplish big things in live and had huge dreams and visions but was having a hard time fighting the demons that still controlled parts of his will. I knew what we had to do, especially me. I asked all of my praying friends to include him in their prayers for his strength and redemption for only God could provide that. They all accepted the challenge and asked their friends also. We solicited prayers from one end of the globe to another and believe me, prayer works. I have always told my son that I loved him but I stepped up my game. I called him more often and called him every Sunday morning to listen to sermons by Joel Olsten and Dr. Fredrick Price with me. He did not have cable so I would dial him and turn the volume up high so that he could listen to my TV. I would question him at intervals during the service to ensure he was listening then we would discuss after the services. Eventually, he started waking up his girlfriend so that she too could listen in. I was ecstatic. The second part of showing him love consisted of ending EVERY call with my sign off “I Love You and there is not a darn thing that you can do about it!” Initially, he just laughed because he thought it funny. Months later, he said, Mama, I know you love me, then I laughed but I just kept on saying it. Still later on he started saying, “I don’t want to do anything about it!” and I would respond. “Good because this is one thing that you don’t control. I control my love and I love you and I will love you even after the day I die.” With that, he would give me his childish grin and say, “I love you too Mama.” For the last years of his life, every call or conversation that we had ended that way, no matter where we were or who we were with. Even if there was an angry moment, it never stopped our ritual because somehow, it would soften the impact. Skip used this kindness with his daughter as she used her “Skip Like” skills on him to wrap him around her finger. All the time he is talking to her about the things she should be doing right, she is explain to him how she is doing her best and will do better (I could imagine she had her fingers crossed behind her back). But initially, he bought it! Somehow, he forgot that it was the same story that he tried on me and I didn’t fall for it, but this was his only child and he saw what he wanted to see. So YES, he condoned some of it but after awhile, he stood up to her and said NO, you will do the right thing in school or you will have to deal with me. I was sooooo proud of him for on that day, he took the first real steps into fatherhood. There were many more days and many more steps but they were cut way too short. There should have been many more stories and many more memories for the two of them to make but that was not to be. On this the first anniversary of Skips death, I could write a series of books about my son but there is not enough room on this device to hold them. Just know that the physical body may be back to dust and the soul is with our God, just know that his spirit and presence will always be with his brother, daughter, family, friends and ME. We will forever keep Skip in our hearts and minds so long as we live. Go with God, son and Rest In Peace. Ms. Yvonne Jackson Hannah, Skip’s Mom!