Saved by an Angel (36 page)

I knew I was not alone. I couldn’t see anything, but I’m still sure to this day that a guardian angel was sitting on the hood of my car, guiding me home safely. In all my life, I have never again heard a “thud” on my car or any car I was a passenger in. Since then, I have never needed to rest my eyes while driving.

T
HANK
Y
OU
, G
REAT
-G
RANDMA
!
by Tracey Staples

When my great-grandmother passed away, I was devastated. She was my best friend, and I always felt a special connection with her. She always knew the right thing to say to make me feel better about everything when no one else could.

I couldn’t believe she was gone. I think I really worried my mother because I refused to believe it. I would always have these very “real” dreams about spending time with Great-Grandma. Now I know that I actually
was
spending time with her in my dream state.

But one day I finally realized that she was dead. I was listening to the Barry Manilow song “Can’t Smile Without You,” and the words just struck me. I wept for days, just as I did right after she passed. The pain and grief were unbearable. On top of my grief, I was deeply panicked and depressed about finding a place to move to. I couldn’t bear the thought that she was no longer there to make it better!

A couple of days later, I was at the theater watching a movie. In the middle of the film, I suddenly felt this draft of cold air. When I breathed in, I could smell my great-grandmother. It was a very surreal experience. I was freaked out, but at the same time felt this overwhelming feeling of joy. I looked around the theater to see if there was a source of the draft of cold air, and there wasn’t any.

There was no way I could explain the scent, because my great-grandmother always smelled of whatever powder she wore, with Bengay blended in. It was a unique smell! After the incident, I did not encounter it again. I’m someone who always notices details about people—the way they smell, all of their physical features, and how I feel when I’m around them. So my memory of Great-Grandma’s smell is very keen, and I’m certain that it was the same one that I sensed in the theater.

All the way home, I was shocked as well as joyful. It was almost like time stood still afterward, and I had this euphoric feeling. I was so pleased that Great-Grandma had let me know she was there.

On Tuesday of that week, my mother called me and said that for some reason she was late for work (which is very unusual for her). Then as she walked out of the apartment building, she ran into the landlord. Now, she hadn’t run into her in the whole year she had been living there.

My mother told the landlord that I needed my own place to live, and the woman said that they had one new vacancy. My mother told me, “Now, Tracey, if this isn’t a sign you should move into this building, then I don’t know what is!” I called the landlord, and I was able to move into the apartment right away. She even allowed me to pay the deposit in installments. Thank you for your help, Great-Grandma!

H
E
K
EPT
H
IS
P
ROMISE
by Peggy L. Lorenz

My husband, Joe, passed away after an eight-month bout with kidney cancer. We had a lot of time to talk about what my future would be like without him, what to do with our children, our business, and many of the little things that we wanted to settle before he passed on.

One of the things that we discussed at great length was our life after the one here on Earth. We were both Christians and believed that our eternity would be spent together with the Lord. But I had a request for my husband. For my own peace of mind, I asked that if there was any way he could let me know that he was okay when he passed over, to please do so, so that I wouldn’t worry about him. We were so connected in life that I knew that if he could do this for me, he would. I just had no idea how quickly it would happen.

Joe passed away at 3:35
P.M.
on May 14, 1997, surrounded by family and friends. Everyone got to say their final good-byes, and he went very peacefully—he just quit breathing. I had a close friend who stayed with me that night because I really wasn’t in any state of mind to be alone, nor did I want to be!

As would be expected, I had a very difficult time falling asleep when everyone finally convinced me that I needed to rest. I was lying on my husband’s side of the bed, where Joe breathed his last breath just 12 hours previously. I wasn’t asleep, but in that in-between state, where you’re still aware of what’s going on around you.

I was lying on my side with my hands under my cheek. I felt Joe touch my arm, and I smelled his particular scent. It was a very brief experience, but nonetheless real. I bolted upright in bed and began to cry copiously. It was what I had wanted so badly, but it came so quickly after his death that I was startled and a bit frightened.

At first I thought I was really “losing it.” But then I realized that Joe was just fulfilling his promise to me. It’s something I will cherish until the day I pass on to be with him.

N
O
O
THER
E
XPLANATION
by Lisa Gayle Davis Flores

In 1983, I was hitchhiking from Oregon to Washington to go to my grandpa’s funeral. I was standing on the shoulder of the freeway when an El Camino car came onto the shoulder at 55 miles per hour. It struck me in the lower back.

I flew through the air and hit the ground. I really thought I was dead, but then I felt somebody put hands on my shoulders and pick me up. But when I looked to see who had helped me, no one was there. I was also one month pregnant at the time. I believe that this was my guardian angel, saving my unborn child. I will never forget it.

E
TERNALLY
B
LOOMING
by Barb Hacking

I recently attended a “celebration of life” for Kim, a friend who had passed away after a long illness, leaving behind two young children and a loving husband. One of the speakers at this celebration was her sister, who spoke of how a tulip would now always remind her of Kim. When Kim found out that she probably wouldn’t be alive in the spring, she planted lots of tulip bulbs. What a cheerful reminder each spring of her love for her family!

When I returned home that night, I went into my seven-year-old daughter’s bedroom to read her a story. Before I started, Rachel leaned over and told me I smelled like tulips. Wow! Children really are so in tune to what is going on around them. She had not been to the celebration, and she had no idea about the legacy of tulips that Kim had left behind.

A
N
A
NGEL’S
K
ISS
by Maya Tonisson

My romantic partner passed away on June 18, 1999, at the age of 26. He had suffered a hemorrhage in his brain, and after an operation and one week in a coma in intensive care, he let himself go. I was 25, and beside myself, having never experienced losing a partner—or for that matter, anyone in my life who was so young. He was pronounced dead at about 5 or 6
A.M.
, and I stayed with a friend that night, not wanting to be alone.

The following evening, however, I chose to stay home by myself, and after I got into bed, I reached a state of “twilight sleep.” I was half-awake, half-asleep, when I felt my partner lie beside me, and he kissed me very softly. After a few moments, I jolted awake, sitting up and opening my eyes, and he was gone. I never saw him, but I still believe to this day that what I felt was real.

Chapter 13