A CHANCE OF LOVE

Growing up & next to my mother, I loved my Grandfather more than any other person on earth. My mother's father, my beloved Grandfather gave me so many gifts I have needed to make it through my own life. I can't even begin to count all reasons I feel so grateful for having Clarence Hamilton as my Grandfather.

My Grandfather came from a good family in Sacramento, California. My Grandpa was an early pro baseball player in California during the time when they had the 1st professional night games after installing lights at the stadium. His family was talented in communications & started the Sacramento Bee newspaper & several radio stations in California during the Great Depression of the 1930s. There were stories of my Great Grandfather keeping 3 or 4 churches alive during that time, even though my Great Grandfather was not Catholic.

Maybe the family is also where my Grandfather (like me) found his moral compass for doing good works & doing the right thing, I am not sure. By living life in a contemplative way, my Grandfather developed a tender, caring, compassion. Ethics in culture was always an idea to be discussed & lived by within the Hamilton Clan.

To this day I still feel very blessed at having come from this family, my mother's family. They are good people that have been known to do the right thing when faced with choices. Though my Grandfather, Grandmother & Mother have all passed, I still see the good, caring, loving people, my people, in my Hamilton uncles. I miss being with the Hamiltons in day to day life. (I am in Texas, some Hamiltons are in California & some are in other states. We are a large family. My Grandparents alone had five children.) I miss my Grandfather, my Grandmother & Mother profoundly.

My Irish/English Catholic mother used to say that if there was such a thing as reincarnation, she thought me & my Grandfather were two people who had lived a previous life together then reincarnated together again in this life. My Grandfather & I seemed to share the many of the same beliefs. A huge belief we held in common was the absolute conviction that LIFE is SACRED. I was a small child when that core belief took root within my deepest being. The core belief that *ALL LIFE IS SACRED* has saved my life, as I clung to it during difficult moments.

Maybe I started to pick up my Grandfather's mystical ways, or maybe I was always mystical myself, so my Grandfather & I were just naturally compatible. I am not sure if my Grandfather somehow conveyed his mystical beliefs to me or if I was going to be mystical by virtue of receiving the *mystical gene*. Whatever the case, I followed my Grandfather in my reverence for LIFE & LOVE of GOD/DESS or SHEKINAH or HOLY SPIRIT or GREAT SPIRIT or the DIVINE or whatever name you want to use for the ALL.