My Angel

 

"How do angels get their wings?"  Kim asked me one day, out of the blue...

 

"I don't know, how?"

 

Kim loved classic movies,  Shirley Temple, Alfred Hitchcock,  "Cool Hand Luke", starring Paul Newman, "On the Waterfront" with Marlon Brando.  Joan Crawford. And James Stewart.

 

Each Christmas, we'd watch "It's a Wonderful Life" - I'd try to imitate James Stewart to make Kimmy giggle "I'll lasso you the mooooonnnn"  I'd drawl.  The movie was ok, but, what made the movie was being able to curl up with Kim on the couch to watch the movie!

 

                 In the story, James Stewart's character, George Bailey, has fallen on hard times and has given up.  He is on the verge of suicide.  St. Joseph, calls upon Clarence, an angel who has not yet earned his wings, to go save George.  St. Joseph tells Clarence, if he can save George, maybe he can earn his wings.
                 Clarence shows George what a terrible place Bedford Falls would be without him, and convinces George that he has a wonderful life.
                 "No man is a failure who has friends" he tells George.  At that moment, a bell rings on George's family Christmas tree, signaling that Clarence has earned his wings!

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              I cannot tell you how many times we watched this movie together...Kim could have watched it twice as many as we did.

                So, nearly every time we were out and about - no matter where, or what, we might have been doing - if we heard a bell ring, we'd pause and listen, then turn and look into each others eyes and Kim would whisper "an angel got their wings!" - her smile would warm the darkest depths of my heart...

               I can clearly remember the day that I heard the sweetest bells, tinkling over the wind.  The day Kimmy got her wings.  The clarity of the moment - it was unmistakable, as if I was an audience to her ceremony.  It may have taken 'Clarence' 200 years to earn his wings in the movie, but it was no surprise to me, that Kim earned hers in a year and a half!

              It was at Tonio's 3rd grade luau...Lupe had worked so hard planning a perfect day for our little ones.  Monsi and Tonio were inseparable, going on the jumping castles, playing all of the games that the Lupe had set up, eating a buffet of food and running through the downpour created by our Rita Ranch fire department! All of the 3rd graders and their teachers had a blast!!

                                             Tonio works hard on signing a shirt, with Monsi and Lupe in the background...

 

Wait to LIMBO!!!

 

Jenny Rienstra (Mons and Tonio's teacher) and Lupe enjoying the day...

 

                                                Here, the kids formed a circle, getting ready to play a game where one child gets a sponge, soaking wet, with  ice chilled water.  He/she chooses to douse another classmate on the head, at which point, the soakee must chase down the soaker before he/she gets back to their spot...
          ...while setting this up, just after snapping this photo, I was began to experience that sensation of time slowing down...and noticed how beautiful a day it was, the park was gorgeous that day.  I was staring off across the park, when I heard the familiar singing of a hummingbird.  I turned to see a pretty, green hummingbird, landing on the branch of the mesquite tree just above my head.  I squinted through the sun's brilliant rays to see her better...a breeze rippled across the park....
             ...and then, I heard the bells, unmistakable, carried by the breeze...I looked left, toward the source, to see if I could see anyone that might have been carrying a small set of bells - such a soft sound, yet clear. It seemed as though I could hear nothing else - not the squealing of the happy children, or the birds in the trees, or the cars passing by on Rita Road - all was absolutely silent - except for the bells. I looked back up at the hummingbird, which seemed to lift off in slow motion, hovering...when the jingling of the bells stopped, she swooped away, off into the blue sky...
  
                                At that moment, I knew what had just occurred, without a shadow of a doubt...it seemed an eternity passed as I processed the beauty of what had happened - the joy I felt, welling up inside me - how happy and proud of Kimmy I was at that moment....I cannot do this moment justice with words - the feeling was overwhelming, the moment so clear, so beautiful...just about indescribable.  The feeling of peace  that swept over me as I felt the cool breeze, eyes locked on the hummingbird and then, the jingling of the bells, from somewhere off to my left...

              Just like that, my time bubble burst - I could hear the children's laughter again and turned back to the game, which had just started...

               I've thought about that day often...I know that it was a perfect day for Kim to get her wings.  During the 3rd grade luau.  She had planned Cody's...and Autumn's.  Lupe had done such a fantastic job of making it a memorable, perfect day for the 3rd graders - Kimmy would have to have been there, for Antonio.  For us.  She'd earned those wings...my angel....

 

 

 

 

               Maybe, just maybe, the next time you hear bells ring - it will be your guardian angel who is receiving their wings...