Angels Among Us
There are angels that walk among us. Usually they are the ones who make a quiet difference in your life and you do not even recognize them until they have moved forward in their own journey.
Recently my community lost such an Angel. She was a beautiful soul I did not have the honor to have met and know however what I have learned about her since her untimely, in my opinion, departure fills my heart with hope and love.
This young angel was only 20 when she disappeared and took her own life. Speaking with her friends, acquaintances and spiritual group I know that this came as quiet a shock to them.
I wonder if she ever knew the difference she made in the lives of those she touched.
I am told this young woman would always put the best interest of another before her own. If you were hungry she would feed you. If you needed a shoulder to cry on she was available at any time. I am told that she shone a light of such inner beauty that you could see her coming from a block away. She always had a smile and kind word for strangers and would help anyone in need.
Her death has shook the community. There is a sense of grief happening throughout our city, our spiritual community and around the Social Networks.
My thoughts of love go to the family and friends of this amazing woman.
I once knew a woman who had lived “hard and fast” as she would say in her heavy accent. I would refer to her as my “crazy French friend” Often she would tell me that she was completely sane it was the rest of us that were crazy. We would laugh long and hard.
This woman had a heart of gold. She would mourn the loss of bird to her cat on one hand but would give you tough loving on the other. At the time I did not realize the impact she was having one. I did not know that I would know her too little or that I would lose her too soon.
When my friend told me she had cancer, after everything that she had been through she told me not to shed my tears to her. She reminded me that she had done in dying what she could never do in living for her son – provide for him financially. Too me that seemed like such a terrible thought. Did she not know that her son would rather her with him then money in hand. She had raised him better than that – he told me.
I never really understood how deeply she had impacted the people we worked with until after she passed away. By request she did not have a funeral. However “we” needed a space to celebrate the life of this amazing woman.
There was message sent out to our original 3 am coffee group. Some of the members were now working in other cities, some day, other nights. We had been shattered by the four winds and it was uncertain who would be able to make our celebration. We met in out favorite location and the staff also joined us in the celebration of this amazing woman. Everyone one of us made the trip, re-worked our schedules and attended – there was close to 30 of us. We spent a total of 10 hours in the restaurant sharing food, sharing stories and sharing our tears and laughter. Each of us ordered a favorite dish of our crazy French friend. We each shared how this woman had touched our lives.
My dear friend, was here too short a time but she gifted many lessons of life in the time I was honored to call her friend.
There was a young man I once knew. He never saw the amazing gift that he was. He could not see that no amount of beating him down could keep him there. He could not see how deeply he was loved and admired by his friends and adopted family. He had lived a very tough life – one of deep loss, pain and rejection. The night he took his life a part of me of died. To know that I had known him too few days and knowing the pain left in the heart of his “brother” who found him in the morning left an emptiness in me I could not explain. His gift was one of the greatest I have received – unconditional love. I loved him for all he was, all he was not and all he could be. I loved him for his spirit. I love him still to this day because he taught me how to allow my heart to open and love fully.
There are many other living angels among us who in each day make a difference in the lives of those that surround them, the person who offers to feed the hungry, give blankets to the cold and love the “unlovable” behaviors of another while they are on their journey. Parents, teachers, strangers – anyone can be an angel if you are open to their gifts and teachings.