Erin has a guardian angel. A real one.
This supernatural cherub was a gift from her mother, long ago. It all started when Erin was six years old. Her dying mother called Erin to her sickbed, said a prayer, and gifted her daughter an angel. Simple as that.
After her mother passed, Erin was raised by her grandmother in a ramshackle house near the railroad tracks. Times were not easy. Her grandmother was a single parent, and kids ain’t cheap. Simple as that.
“We ate a lot of Hamburger Helper,” said Erin. “And we shopped at thrift stores.”
But an angel is worth a lot more than greenbacks. Especially an angel like hers, who has made himself evident at pivotal moments throughout her life.
There was the time in elementary school when Erin fell off a low balcony at her friend’s house. When she opened her eyes, she was in no pain. The doc couldn’t believe what he saw. Not a bone broken.
There was the time in high school when she was driving on the interstate. A voice inside Erin said, “Take the exit, and wait at the gas station.”
She did. On that same highway, on that same night, an auto collision occurred involving an eighteen-wheeler. Four people died.
There was the time when Erin was engaged to a young man whom she thought she loved. The wedding was fast approaching, but something inside her said, “This is wrong. Do not marry him.”
She called off the ceremony, simple as that.
Erin gave back the wedding gifts. She returned the ring. And many years later, Erin realizes she made the right call. The man she might have married has already been remarried thrice.
Another time, she was in an apartment building visiting a friend. There was a man in the hallway who looked suspicious. He was standing too close to her.
When Sarah brushed past him, the man’s stern face gave away his intentions. He obviously wasn’t there to play patty cake.
Erin ordered him to stay away from her. Amazingly, the man’s disposition changed immediately. It was as though the man saw something towering behind her shoulder. Something about the size of Shaquille O’Neal. She walked away unharmed. Simple as that.
Later, she read in the paper that two women had been raped in that apartment building.
Erin could tell you more stories. But we don’t have all day, and you get the gist.
A few years ago, Erin was combing through her grandmother’s attic, searching for Christmas decorations. The attic housed many of her mother’s old things.
There was the old steamer trunk. The antique writing desk. There were several creepy old mannequins.
Which brings up a very important point. Why do people have mannequins in their attics? And at what time in history did the average residential family feel the need to own more than one mannequin?
Also in the attic she found a wooden box filled with trinkets. Her mother’s old Bible with a cracked pleather cover. Ornate perfume bottles. Stacks of postcards from people Erin never met.
And a journal.
It wasn’t a big diary, but when she flipped through the yellowed pages she found teenage drawings on the interior flap. And her mother’s writings.
One page read something like this:
“August, 1962. I met my angel today. He saved my life when I got bit by the snake in our driveway… Mom said I’m lucky to be alive…”
And another, which read something along the lines of:
“Angel, thank you for helping Daddy find a job, you know how much he needs it.”
“Dear angel, please help me get pregnant. You know how badly Louis and I want to have a baby…”
“Angel, help me not be so afraid.”
“January, 1980. I’m pregnant! The doctors said it would never happen, but God proved them wrong! God is good! Thank you!”
Peach-sized tears filled Erin’s eyes as she read through each entry written upon brittle pages in her mother’s hand. She realized that her mother had not just given her an angel. The mother had given the child HER angel.
Erin treasured these things, and pondered them in her heart.
Which brings us to the present day. A few mornings ago, Erin was holding her eldest son in her lap, reading the work of some pathetically hapless columnist on Facebook.
At the time, her son had been at home with a cold all week, coughing and running a low-grade fever. She kissed his hot little forehead, and read the columnist’s words about angels.
And a voice inside her spoke.
“Something just told me it was time,” Erin told me later in an email. “I knew what I had to do.”
So she gave her son a sacred gift. The same gift her mother gave her a lifetime ago.
“I just thanked my mom for giving me her angel, and the I gave my angel to my son.”
The next morning her son’s fever broke.
Simple as that.
23 comments
Wanda Wilson - December 29, 2021 9:52 am
I know angels exist. Loved this post. Thanks for sharing it. WIsh you and your loved ones a healthy, prosperous, safe, and Happy New Year.
Van Mitchell - December 29, 2021 10:50 am
There are Angels among us!! God bless us all!!
Leigh Amiot - December 29, 2021 11:30 am
Lovely story. I, too, will always believe there are angels among us.
Susan - December 29, 2021 12:46 pm
❤️❤️❤️
Carolyn Kelley - December 29, 2021 1:03 pm
Love these stories
ramblinritz - December 29, 2021 1:05 pm
Thank you for another angel story. I believe angels are among us.
Paul McCutchen - December 29, 2021 1:20 pm
I have heard stories of angels but most of the time they are from women.
Karen - December 29, 2021 1:22 pm
Angels are all around us. Thank you for sharing.
Jewell - December 29, 2021 2:17 pm
I believe. I have one also
Lavenda - December 29, 2021 2:18 pm
Simple as that..love your post this morning. I needed to hear it. We all forget time to time.
Shelton A. - December 29, 2021 2:42 pm
Thank you for sharing Erin’s story (Erin is my daughter’s name). She is a nurse in a pediatric oncology unit in a children’s hospital. She answered a call to do what she does. I’m sure she has her own angel stories. Erin’s mom gave Erin a wonderful gift and Erin paid it forward. Thank you, God, for angels amoung us and for your angels who watch over us. That’s a season of Christmas story, Sean!
Patricia Gibson - December 29, 2021 3:37 pm
God is awesome! Thanks once again for sharing! I am grateful for you! You provide a bright light in the sometimes difficult world.
Stacey Wallace - December 29, 2021 3:55 pm
Thanks, Sean.
Susie Flick - December 29, 2021 4:47 pm
Angels are everywhere and we are unaware.
Angel study is biblical whale watching. Angels surface just long enough to grant a glimpse and raise a question but then disappear before we have a full view.
Two adjectives capture the greater truth about angels; many and mighty.
If God opened our eyes, what would we see:? Moms and dads, you’d see angels escorting your child to school. Travelers, you’d see angels encircling the aircraft. Patients, you’d see angels monitoring the moves of the surgeon. Teenagers, you’d see angels overseeing your sleep.
My favorite quote : Many many angels. Hundred of years ago John Milton wrote, “Millions of spiritual creatures walk the Earth unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep.” The poet was right” “Turn but a stone and stir a wing.”.
MAM - December 29, 2021 8:25 pm
Thank you, Sean, for helping us see our angels, who watch over us day and night.
Jo - December 29, 2021 8:54 pm
Beyond the shadow of a doubt, angels do exist. I love the “gifting an angel”. Keep the angel stories coming. They give me courage to look beyond all the negative.💝
Bruce Wolfe - December 29, 2021 9:29 pm
Another great post. Thanks. Just more proof the angels are among us.
Cynthia Russell - December 29, 2021 9:38 pm
Love Your writing… ending us in a good one for 2021.. LOOKING forward for what God holds for us in 2022.. what ever that maybe.. HE is there with us!! Thank You..
Linda Moon - December 29, 2021 9:53 pm
Mothers who are living or have ceased to live often give heavenly gifts to their children. That’s how much we love them. Thank you, Columnist, for all the word-gifts you’ve given to me and many others….especially “The Gift” from today. Are YOU an Angel? Perhaps you are……..a Messenger of stories from God.
Rose Eliff - December 30, 2021 3:26 am
You weave the magic into the story so wondrously. I have a small group of angels that are always with me. Sometimes when a friend is in need, I ask one of them to go help my friend’s angels out; sometimes there’s just some heavy lifting and an extra set of wings can help.
Chasity Davis Ritter - December 30, 2021 4:01 am
The best Angel story yet….
Anne McDaniel - December 30, 2021 11:41 am
What a beautiful angel story!
CHARALEEN WRIGHT - January 16, 2022 2:25 am
❤