Guardian Angels

Earlier this week, I received word that one of my favorite teachers from high school had lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. In one of the many, many messages on his Facebook page and his daughter's Facebook page was one saying that now his grandchildren had their own personal Guardian Angel looking after them. I may be a lapsed Catholic (hell, I'm a lapsed anything!) but I do believe in angels and guardian angels in particular. I have long held that some of our dearly departed have watched over my family and myself. I'd like to share my thoughts with you today.
I believe that those loved ones who have passed on remain behind to guide and protect us. The most common way to say it would be, I believe in guardian angels.
I never got the chance to meet my great-grandmother who I am named for, but I have felt her presence many times. Three of those times were during the births of my children. She had five children of her own and I feel like she was watching over me during the births of my children, keeping me safe. It was comforting to me then and it is comforting to me now.
My grandfather, ND Roberts, died during the spring of my junior year of college, a few months before I got married. Jayme and I had asked him to perform our wedding ceremony, and he had happily agreed. My grandmother fell and broke her neck during my senior year of high school and even though it would have been hard for them, they promised to do everything they could to be there. “Just in case though, you may want to have someone on stand-by. I wouldn’t be able to leave my bride.” They had been married for over 60 years but he still called GrandMom his bride. After his death, GrandMom promised she would be at my wedding, and she was. GrandDad was there too, no one will ever convince me otherwise. Raley reminds me of GrandDad, so I like to think that he is Raley’s personal guardian angel.
Clay was born a little over a month after Jayme’s dad passed away. How do I put this delicately…the man did not care for me much (UNDERSTATEMENT!!). Since his passing, I have considered him to be Clay’s guardian angel though. You know how babies will smile and laugh while they are sleeping? When Clay was a newborn, one of my neighbors was holding him and he was grinning and giggling. She told me that in her family, they called it “Angel Time” and said that was when all the family members who had passed away would visit the baby and kiss their cheeks, making them smile and laugh. From then on when I saw Clay do the smile and giggle I would say hello to whatever relative I was thinking might be visiting and I noticed that Grandpa Sims seemed to pop into my mind a lot. When he got older, Clay used to help me out when Pattie was a baby. He would bring me things I needed for her and then hide. He would tell me that “Mystery Man” did it. One day I asked him who he thought "Mystery Man" was. He said, “He’s just a spirit that lives inside of me. I think maybe it’s Grandpa.” If I had any doubts before that, they disappeared.
I also think that Jayme’s dad looks after us when we are driving. He was killed in a car wreck that he didn’t cause, he just got caught in the middle of it. The other cars' drivers were not injured. We have had some close calls while driving (two of them very recently) and I like to think that he is helping us out.
While I was pregnant with Pattie, two wonderful women in our lives passed. The first was Jayme’s Aunt Maggie. She was a force of nature! She was very ill in the days before she passed, and didn’t respond much to people talking to her. We had just found out that Pattie was a girl, and Jayme’s mom, while talking to Aunt Maggie, told her the news. Aunt Maggie smiled; one of her last smiles. Just under a month before Pattie was born, GrandMom passed away too. I felt the powerful love of both these wonderful women with me in the hospital and I like to think they help me watch over Pattie.
I don't pretend to know what waits for us on the other side of this life, but I do hope we have the ability to visit the ones we leave behind. To bring them comfort and provide them protection. It's a comfort to me to know that I have an advocate who hears my prayers, even when I think God isn't listening.