Angels in Disguise

Grandmom Josephine & LouAnn, Aug. 11, 1979

Do you believe in angels? Would you recognize an angel if your paths crossed? I didn’t recognize my first important angel encounter. Perhaps it was because I was too young at the time that we met. But, it could have been because I had a totally different idea as to what an angel would look like.

Like most children that grew up in North Wildwood, I spent just about every summer day down at the beach. My friend and I were ten years old the day we almost drowned. The sandbar we were playing on had gradually disappeared and the water was over our heads.

There was absolutely no one around us, and the lifeguards seemed a mile away. My friend was fighting for her life and holding me under at the same time. No one saw us.

All at once, after what seemed like a lifetime, I felt a big arm slip around my waist. When I was lifted above the water, I saw a man. The man also had an arm around my friends waist. He was a huge man, in both height and weight, and he was also bald. He did not utter one word as he gently carried us to shallow water and put us down. He walked away, and my friend and I never spoke of the incident to each other or anyone else. I realized later on in life that was my first angel encounter, that I was aware of anyway.

There is no doubt in my mind that angels were by my side during my reckless teenage years. One night in particular still makes me shudder to this day when I think about it. While on a double date one night, during my sophomore year in high school, my friends and I decided to do an adventurous thing. (In other words, a “stupid” thing).

It was late fall of 1970, and we snuck into a closed amusement park. Our plan was to go down the “giant slide”. We all made our way up to the top and my date and I decided to go down first on the left side. We moved very fast, and when we got to the bottom, we crashed into a large thick board. Since he went down with me, I had all of his weight on me, and I nearly broke my legs off at the hip. My occasional lower back problems are a constant reminder of some poor decision making in my youth.

We composed ourselves and turned around to see our friends “walking” across the middle of the slide over to the steps. Once they got down the steps they told us what had happened. They started down the slide together, and got about half way down, when the slide became sticky and stopped them in their tracks. They said when they looked just three feet ahead of them they saw that an entire section of the slide was “missing”. Needless to say, the plunge would have killed them, if the angels hadn’t been there to “sticky up” that slide.

Also, I believe no one but angels, could have guided the car of my friends and I, across that flooded bridge to safe ground, during the seventies when we traveled across the country. (See past story, “There’s No Place Like Home”)

Fitz & LouAnn, Derc. 1996

In 1997 my angel came to me in the form of my gynecologist, Dr. Tai. Even though I had no family history of breast cancer, he insisted that I start my routine mamograms at an earlier age than usually required. He saved my life. And two years later, when I had my mastectomy, I watched an angel sit, and sleep, in a straight back chair next to my hospital bed, for twenty four hours. Funny, that angel looked a lot like my mom.

You see, angels come in all shapes and sizes; and they can be male or female. After reading this, maybe you too, will recognize the angels in your life. They do little things, and they do big things; but, their importance must never be underestimated. I am grateful to them, and welcome their presence in my life.

Dedication: This story is dedicated to the memory of two of my favorite angels; my grandmother, Josephine, and my good friend, “Fitz”.