J.C. and Me
By Shelley Montague Ellis
June 2014

“I have no control over who comes through,” the medium explained. “I have asked Spirit to go away before. Would you like me to tell him to leave?” She gesticulated into the air next to where she was standing.

“No, no, no, no – don’t do that,” I said, “It’s just that I’m confused and don’t understand why he would want to talk to me.” It wouldn’t be until much later that I would realize that the Spirit of the tall black man standing before the medium might actually be my guardian angel.

I had been hoping for the past hour at the Spirit Gallery to get a message from my grandmother. Actually, that had been my goal ever since I bought my ticket. I was beginning to feel left out as people around me were getting messages from The Other Side. There was laughter and tears as departed loved ones were sharing memories, solving mysteries, and making amends with their families in the Land of the Living. I was beginning to feel like a Wallflower and especially awkward since I had attended this Night of the Talking Dead meeting alone, and the families around me were celebrating the communications from the deceased.

I was even more discouraged when psychic medium, Lisa Bousson, announced that she had a spirit of a black man standing before her. She described him as being tall and in his 70s and said he was wearing old work clothes. I was starting to tune out because, once again, I was positive this ghostly visitor was not here for me. Looking around the audience, she asked if anyone was going to claim him. She even said it was highly unusual that the spirit of a black man would be making an appearance before 25 white women. However, he was very insistent and would not leave. As she had before, Lisa looked in the direction where she “saw” the spirit and appeared to be listening to him. She told the group that his name was Jay or began with J. and that it was perhaps something Biblical like Moses.

No one made a connection, and even though I thought it was a long shot, I slowly raised my hand. I said that my grandparents had a black man working for them and his name was Jay and they called him J.C. The psychic medium agreed that certainly sounded Biblical to her. Jay had lived in a trailer on their property since before I was born. Even after he was too old to work, he continued to live there and my grandmother took care of him financially. The next clues the Spirit gave described exactly that, he mentioned that there were several outbuildings beside the main house, which there were…the trailer in which he lived, an old Indian cabin, as my grandpa called it, the neighboring farmer’s barn and a small house down the road. The Spirit also clearly illustrated the dirt road leading to the house, and the circular driveway that surrounded the front of the house. This was especially significant because it was in the center of the circle where my brother and I played and had the chance to interact with J.C. while he did yard work, or odd jobs on the house.

I was still pretty skeptical as to why a dead black man from Kansas, who I hadn’t had any contact with in over 30 years would take the time to stop playing Canasta with the angels and have a word with me. However, no one else in the room had raised their hand to indicate any relationship to these clues, and I had to admit the information had been spot on. So, when the medium said the next clue, I was totally dumbfounded.

“Peas,” that was it. I shook my head and I bet she was worried I was going to make a fuss again, so she went on to clarify. “Did you grow them or eat them?”

Well, of course I ate peas. I mean who didn’t? But not to excess…I mean not to where a person would make the trip from Paradise back to Earth just to comment on it. I didn’t think the fact that I ate peas was worthy enough of a connection for me to raise my hand.

Lisa Bousson explained that oftentimes in spiritual shorthand the word “peas” means princess. Like in “Princess and the Pea”. Well – that was definitely something to which I could relate! Not only was I treated like a princess when I was little…but my daughter, Carly, had her biggest starring role in high school as the Princess in “The Princess and the Pea”. She loved that confirmation and observed, “How amazing spirit can be!” My grandmother had died not too long before the performance, and since she had gone to all of her performances, Carly and I were so sorry Grandma wasn’t there for this one.

Lisa seemed very satisfied either that the clues were hitting the target, or that I was catching on and not being rude when a nice dead gentleman was taking his time to communicate with me. There was a pause and she sniffed the air and got a sweet smile on her face. “I smell something wonderful like aftershave or cologne,” she explained.

At that sentence…the chills came, head to toe…and I was positive, without a doubt, that even if I didn’t understand the reason, I was being honored with a visit from J.C. I could picture him standing before me: dressed in a white dress shirt, a thin black tie, and black dress slacks, just as he had looked in 1971 at my grandfather’s funeral. A fleeting memory of hugging him came back, and yes, I could smell his aftershave.

When I left Angels’ Haven to walk home at the conclusion of the Spirit Gallery the full moon was just rising on this eerie Friday the 13th. I was reviewing the details, and was trying to put the pieces together to understand what it all meant. I thought about how the medium had announced earlier in the evening that very aggressive male spirits were pushing to get a message to loved ones on the living side, and how unusual that no females had come through up to that point. I was thinking how I wish I had received a message from my grandmother. At that thought, as if in response, her voice popped into my head saying the words I had heard her say so many times whenever a difficult job needed to be done: "J.C. will do that for me…I’ll just let J.C. take care of this…Don’t worry, Jay will be there to handle that." It became clear to me then, that Grandma had communicated with me and J.C., as always, was there to help. She reassured me, that what I have always felt is true - that she is always with me, and. of course, she was there to see Carly in her starring role in "The Princess and the Pea".

I believe there was another reason J.C. was there to give me a message. It was in answer to a question I had thrown out into the universe a couple of days before. While exploring Lisa Bousson’s website one evening, I read one of her blog posts about “How to spot your Spirit Guides, or Guardian Angels”. This is a topic in which I have long been interested. Following her instructions, I simply asked my Spirit Guide to identify him or herself, and then waited for the clues to happen. I was hoping something dramatic would happen, like the name written across the sky.

Later the next day, while searching for photos for my daughter, Carly’s, 30th birthday, I came across her 8th Grade Yearbook. Although, I must have read it before, I was surprised that on the pages inside, many of her friends had written notes hoping that Carly would “find the big black man she was looking for.” Later, at the Dollar Store in Howell, I was looking for Father’s Day cards. The very first card that caught my attention, right at eye level, practically shouted in bold print: “Hey! Big Black Man!” I just laughed and thought what a coincidence it was to see almost the exact same words just a couple of hours later. Even though, I do believe that there are no coincidences, I did not in any way relate this to my search for my Spirit Guide. In fact, I kept looking for other clues…perhaps a name on a billboard…in the lyrics of a song…a name overhead in a conversation. However, nothing seemed to connect with me. I did however, continue to chuckle all day about how futile a search for “a Big Black Man” would be in Howell, Michigan.

It wasn’t until I was dramatically replaying my adventures at the Spirit Gallery to my husband that it all came together as if it was a movie montage. Of course! All of the clues about the “Big Black Man”…and my visit from the Big Black Man from Beyond the Grave were clearly showing me that J.C. – a man who had watched over me … the little Princess – was still doing just that, as my very, unexpected, Guardian Angel.