Auntee Cool-Cool

I remember Auntee Deedee tall, dark, and sexy. She wore bell-bottomed pants, halter-tops and an angel haloed Afro. Her main activity was talking on the phone. She was cool and I willingly followed her directions. Partly because she was the boss and I wanted everything to go smoothly so I could get to the real business at hand. Discovering her secrets. I read her diary, it was written in beautiful script and still undecipherable. It had a cool picture of a white girl on the cover that illuminated in black light. My Auntee smelled like weed and strawberry incense and listened to “Earth, Wind and Fire” and “Bootsy’s Rubberband”. For protection, She carried a big rock in a royal crown sack just in case anyone wanted to beef. After all, sometimes you have got to fight for your cool. Her boyfriends were tall, thin and came in yellow, high yellow, caramel, brown, black and blue black. They had pimp-walks, tall and medium Afros and few had gold teeth. They spoke in whispered cadences and said “Yeah” a lot, as an affirmation. I never understood how she turned down any of the whispered propositions, cause I would have said “Yeah” to all of them.

When someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up? I said, “ a teenager”. My Auntee made life seem cool. She discovered what she liked and enjoyed it. Which made her social, cool, and fierce. In contrast, my life is burdened with everything but cool there is: eat right, exercise, work hard, keep a good credit score, avoid trouble, mind your own business, drink water, say no to drugs, call your Granny…

A few years ago there was a popular saying called K.I.S.S., which stood for “Keep It Simple Stupid”. Which reminds me of my Auntee’s beauty. Although my Auntee had a lot more going on she lived a beautiful state of being. I like that. If someone asks me, what I am working on now that I have grown up? I’ll say, “I start every morning with a K.I.S.S”. I focus my energy on being nice (be cool). I keep in touch with friends and family (be social). I avoid conflict, practice safety measures and call for help if needed (be safe). I enjoy my hobbies and interests and share them with others. “Yeah”.