30 days and change: Day 16

DAY SIXTEEN: Do you believe in the afterlife? Why or why not?

Word Count: 300

I’ve talked about him in a few other posts, but what made me believe in the afterlife is not The Bible or years of the afterlife and the pertinent reasons one should “live right” to reach it eternally. My great-grandfather Alonzo Hankins helped usher in my belief in the afterlife. I chose to highlight him as the bridge to my understanding of the afterlife, as his afterlife presence truly deserves recognition. About 4 or 5 years old, growing up in the shotgun home he built, I would often explain to my mother that the bathroom… the singular bathroom in the house would reek of cigarette smoke whenever I would use it.

No one smoked, so cigarettes weren’t a regular occurrence for me to have a specific understanding of the smell. For years, I would run back and forth to my mom about the smell until one day, my mom told me…. “I know exactly why you’re smellin’ cigarettes… Grand-da.” Puzzled, of course, I had no idea what it truly meant; I couldn’t even think of who this “grand-da” character was. That insufficient withdrawal of my memory was caused by his death, occurring well before my death. A few hours later, I would learn my great-grandfather had died of a heart attack in the very same location in which I smelled cigarette smoke: the bathroom. February 11, 1982, my great-grandfather died in the bathroom and was found by my first cousin Trevor. In the early 90s, when I was growing up, the afterlife tried to reach out to me before I even really knew what an afterlife was. Unaware of his character, story, or life while he was living, he began to draw out his presence in my life early. In some attempt to get some attention all those years later…