We Love You Michael

I was born in 1947 in Washington, D.C. After a brief time there my mother returned to South Carolina, where I grew up. My life was typical for a poor black child in the south, perhaps harder because my father wasn?t there. I spent a lot time wondering did I look like him, but my grandfather, great uncles and their sons provided me with father images. There were many hard working strong black males in my community. One in particular was much more than a neighborhood big brother; he was my early mentor and baseball coach. In school my principals, whom I always feared, and later my high school football coach became my model. I was a good math and science student, but I was poor in other areas because of poor reading skills, it was because of that I started to rhyme. I credit my grandmother for being the one who was always there for me until her death. I credit my mother for teaching me never to give up. After graduating from high school, I attended Voorhees College, wanting to play football I transfer-red to Benedict College, but I never got to play there because the program was discontinued. My third year there I got drafted and later wound up in Vietnam. I spent a total of three years in the Army and upon discharge, worked awhile, and then enrolled in and graduated from Presbyterian College. While in the Army, I married Carolyn and our first son Dilectus, whom we call Sato was born. I spent time at the University Of South Carolina where I pursued a master?s degree; I left to attend the Medical University at Charleston, where I received a Doctor of Dental Medicine. During my stay at the MUSC, my second son, Marcal, was born. I returned home and started a dental practice, but soon found out how difficult it was to be black with a profession in a small town. So after years of a frustrating practice I returned to my first love, which was rhyming and rhyming has given me great satisfaction.James Gibbs is the author of 'We Love You Michael' with ISBN 9781591093053 and ISBN 1591093058.