By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., February 2, 2021 — My days and nights have been literally turned around over the past couple months, and I have been staying up until the early hours of the morning watching television, resulting in me not getting out of bed until well past noon. Believe it or not, it’s 1:10 a.m. Tuesday (February 2) and I have just finished eating “dinner,” while watching Chris Como on CNN when he wished his 13-year-old daughter happy birthday.
It dawned on me that I had forgotten to wish my first cousin Alphonso “Boogaloo” Elliott a happy birthday on January 31, which was his 79th birthday. Boogaloo and I were among the seven grandchildren who were raised by our grandparents Ben and Mabel Elliott at Stanyard Creek, Andros, and we grew up like brothers. My mother, Violet Elliott Brown, was the second child of Papa and Mama’s eight children, and Boogaloo’s father, my uncle Audley Elliott, was the next child after my mother.
The last time I say Boogaloo was at the repast after the funeral of my late Aunt Maria Elliott Forbes, Mama and Papa’s youngest child who assisted them in growing us up. The funeral was held on Saturday, September 7 at Our Lady of the Holy Souls Roman Catholic Church, Deveaux Street, Nassau, and although Boogaloo did to attend the funeral service because he is suffering from an advanced case of Alzheimer’s, he did participate in the repast and we had a sort or “good reunion.”
I most certainly hope that he was well enough to enjoy some aspects of his 79th birthday with family and friends. BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOOGALOO.
