Meet Mary, my guardian angel.
Unlike the angels of myth and legend, Mary is as real as the rain. She wields no sword. You don’t see any wings. The only flying she does is in an airplane. But like all real angels, she knows what to do when things get rough. And when my time of trouble arose, Mary was there, harnessing that knowledge. Armed not with a sword that strikes with lightning and thunder, but with a courageous and empathetic heart that saved my life.
It was an unseasonably warm afternoon, the final day of 2021. I was preparing an early dinner for my wife Rosana and daughter Olivia, both scurried away somewhere upstairs. My son Lukas was at a soccer practice with his friends, at a field ten minutes from home - a last session before heading to Italy in a few days to try out for a professional club. Garbanzo soup simmered on the stove, the table was carefully set for four. I took an opportunity for my daily ritual: a brisk neighborhood bike ride before eating. My ride that afternoon seemed no different than any other, except for a few key anomalies. I went alone. I didn’t tell my family that I was heading out. I did not bring my cell phone. Those details were not only out of the ordinary but also, as I would soon find out, life-threatening.
A mile away, Mary was on a neighborhood walk with her daughter and son-in-law. She soon noticed a man, sitting on a lawn, his bike left carefully on the side of the road. At first glance nothing out of the ordinary. But something was not quite right. The man stared blankly ahead. He was pale, seemed sickly. His left arm and leg were oddly positioned and immobile.
A warning flashed in Mary’s mind, triggered by a career of experience as a cardio nurse at Vidant Medical Center, a level-1 trauma hospital located (as luck would have it) a fifteen-minute drive away, just past the soccer field where Lukas was training. She reached into her jacket pocket. Empty. I was not the only one who left their phone at home.
“Call 911 now,” Mary urged her son-in-law.
“What’s going on?” He looked at Mary quizzically.
“That man is in trouble,” she said with a firm and resolute voice, drawing from years of training in situations not so different than this one. “He needs an ambulance right away.”
Her actions that day were not miraculous. Rather, they emerged from the unbeatable combination of a caring heart, impeccable timing, knowledge to recognize that I was in deep trouble, and the resolute confidence to act quickly.
You see, angels walk among us. They look like you or me. To earn our wings, we first dedicate ourselves to develop knowledge or talent to help others. Next, we have to muster the courage and compassion to act, to help someone whether they just need a little push or are in desperate need, as I was, sitting alone on a brown lawn in crisis that warm winter afternoon.
This ‘grounding’ of angels does not make them any less powerful or formidable. It just makes them real. Capable of great deeds. Ready to make a difference in this world of trouble.
Like saving a life.
Prepare to be someone's guardian angel, whether in a moment of crisis or as a lifelong calling. Here’s a recipe: Blend your knowledge and experience. Add a pinch of compassion and caring. Season with strength and resolve. Then go on walks every day, and be ready…
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