Lucy Bass Givens: My angel has gone on to her next assignment!
I know, everything must change and I am growing less resistant to these facts and relying more and more on what I feel in my heart. This is the place where I can hold on to the eternal. My Sistah-friend, Lucy Bass Givens, has been my Angel for well over twenty years and she made the decision on September 30, 2014 to move on. Her transition from loving and supporting me here on this earth has taken on ethereal proportions and propensities. I shall always feel her presence with me.
Lucy and I met while I worked as a manicurist at a friend’s salon. Having recently returned home from living in Memphis, TN, I tried to figure out what entrepreneurial endeavor would provide a living in a Chicago I had left more than 15 years before meeting Lucy. She encouraged me right off the bat and as our conversation continued, we talked about our love of Jazz music. Lucy was a connoisseur of the genre and I quickly found out she and I had many more interests in common . She had one of the most extensive Jazz collections and also knew where the music was performed at. She got me “right current” on the Chicago Jazz scene. When Lucy found out I was a little hesitant about driving to catch a “great set,” she would let me drive her big cars everywhere. She would have me park my family automobile and we would ride to a place looking prosperous and beautiful. Oh how that Sistah taught me so much about being a real woman!
Mind you, Lucy was all of 5-feet tall and never made an appearance without perfect make-up and hair. Whenever going outside, Lucy lifted her 5-feet up at least an additional four inches! Those stilettos magnified her shapely legs and drew the attention of many men. She was a single mother of five children and earned her pension from the kitchen of La Rabida Children’s Hospital, here in Chicago. Her heart was so big I never saw a person who did not greet her in love. She gave and gave and gave. Her biggest fear, as her health declined in later years, was that she would not be as able to give. Can you imagine an individual like that looking out for you? Lucy took great care to share her experiences with me. What I loved about my regular and wonderful visits with her was that she was a “see-er.” She told me stories about her less than bountiful beginnings and some of the disappointments life had presented her with. She would explain “the why” of a current situation and then foretell what the consequences would be. She seemed to hold no judgment about it, she just described or talked about it and in such a manner that made me listen intently to her words. Being the curious person I am, I’d ask her how she knew some things and she’d just give her little chuckle and say, “I just do.”
Lucy kept the kind of home that was filled with beauty and comfort. You could drop by and stay a week and never need anything. Her meals were a staple of delightful and nutritious feasts, available whenever you walked into her home. All the love of Lucy flows through everyone who knows her. She never met a stranger and she would sometimes chide me about not always having a kind word for all. Many ‘takers’ were drawn to her compassion, but she again would chuckle and let me know that she realized this and that it had no power over her giving. She was a haven for me in so many ways. She was an astute “money-getter” and she fueled others around her. A limited education never slowed this Angel down. Lucy was connected to the Supplier and operated that way. Whatever she desired or needed to have was available in abundance. Whew! Lord let me hold on to the living examples she gave me– patience, family first, compassion, acceptance and forgiveness. May I continue in her legacy of a “fully grown woman” and love myself first, so I can love others just like the Universe I am one with. Peace Sweet Lucy!
This song played throughout the photo display during the Visitation portion of the Services held on Monday, October 6, 2014 in Minneapolis, MN.
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