One morning, a few years ago, I woke to find a snow storm raging. It was apparent no one was leaving the house that day, the weather was simply too dangerous for travel. I usually cook comfort foods all day during a storm so we have good food to enjoy together. However, it was still very early in the morning and except for my husband and I, everyone else was sound asleep, with schools closed, there was certainly no need to wake anyone.
My night table is almost always overflowing with random objects, sometimes creating a bit of a mess. Magazines, coupons, nail files and books may all be found there on any given day. Every so often the odds and ends either reach a point of no return or I find myself with time on my hands and the desire to straighten. This particular morning, I had extra time. With this luxury of nowhere to rush off to, I went beyond what was sitting on my night table and decided to clear out years of accumulated knick-knacks inside the drawers.
With determination, I started to empty the top drawer of the nightstand. There were old receipts, thank you letters received and saved, rubber bands, pens, and a variety of random recipes and other assorted papers. Each piece found warranted a bit of reflection and interest. Hiding underneath one particular piece of paper, one with a print stamp of a few years earlier, was a battered, small, blue velvet box. I had no idea what it contained or where it came from. Gingerly, I picked it up. Cradled inside the velvet was a beautiful angel. She was about an inch and a half long. I picked her up and removed her from her velvet bed; she glistened at me. I turned her over in my hand and read the word “HOPE,” engraved on her back. Without blinking, without thinking, I instinctively knew I needed to give this angel to one of the most caring, loving, intelligent women I have ever had the privilege of knowing, my friend, Tina.
Tina and I worked together at the time, but she lived over 300 miles away. We were employed by the same company, but she worked out of the Massachusetts office. We spoke daily, and we saw each other about 3 or 4 times a year. She was always helpful, supportive, loving and extremely wise; she had become a very close friend and confidante. Unfortunately, she had also been diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer about 9 or 10 months before this stormy morning. I had not seen her since her diagnosis and initial treatment, but she had finally reached the stage where she felt strong enough to travel to our home office. I was going to see her the following week and I was extremely excited about that fact.
I didn’t say anything about the angel to Tina, although we spoke often. She was coming to our office the following Monday. I was excited about seeing her and was truly counting the minutes until she arrived. The first morning of her visit, I had an early meeting and she had one scheduled immediately after that. We planned to meet in her office at 11 AM. I just wanted to hug her close and see her warm, welcoming smile, which I had missed for so long.
The Angel, in the beat-up velvet box, was in my desk drawer. At 11, I dialed Tina’s office to see if she was back from her meeting. She picked up the phone and told me another co-worker was in her office, but I should come right over. It was then I told her I had something I wanted to give her. I told her I was a bit embarrassed because I had found it not purchased it, I had no idea where it came from, the box was a mess, and yet, I knew it needed to be with her. She laughed her full of life, hearty laugh and told me I should stop talking and just come by already!!
When I arrived at her office, her door was closed. I knocked gently. Another co-worker, Lainie, opened the door. Tina was behind the desk with her hand on the telephone. Lainie and Tina had apparently been in the middle of a deep conversation by the look on their faces. But, Tina put down the telephone and we shared a warm, good hug. It was wonderful.
I apologized for interrupting. With slight hesitation but my heart full love, I held out my hand and opened my fist to reveal the velvet box. Tina looked at Lainie and an expression I will never forget washed over her face. With care, Tina removed the box from my hand, opened it, and her eyes began to fill with tears. Even more gently than she had taken the box from my hand, she took the angel out of the box and flipped it over. When she read the word, “HOPE”, she gasped.
Lainie’s eyes also welled with tears. I truly had no idea what was happening. What had I just walked into?
Apparently, when Tina was first diagnosed, in Massachusetts, 8 months earlier, her son’s soccer team’s Moms had sent her a Get-Well package. It was a package they send whenever anyone in the group is going through hard times of any sort. The package contained inspiring books, good luck charms, some treats, and an angel, an angel with the word “HOPE” on the back. Tina found particular comfort with this angel and brought it along for her chemotherapy treatments. She would hold it close as the hopefully curing poisons entered her system. She said it made her feel a little more at ease, a little less stressed. She took it with her for each and every session. When her treatments finally ended, she thought she put the angel back in the box and back in the package. However, when she was called a few weeks later and told that another Mom had just received a breast cancer diagnosis, she was asked to assemble the package and send it along at her convenience. She had everything, but the angel was missing.
Tina looked everywhere. She scoured her house, her purse and her car for this angel. She called the oncology unit and asked if anyone found it there. It was as if it simply vanished off the face of the earth. The Hope Angel was nowhere to be found. She then decided she needed to purchase a new angel in order to complete the package for the other mom. She knew how much the angel helped her and she wanted this other Mom to find that same comfort. She called every Catholic store close to her home. When she came up empty, she searched further distances. Tina then explored the Internet; she could not find a similar angel. She finally gave in and purchased a new angel to include in the basket until she could find the “right” one. It bothered Tina that the angel did not say "HOPE" and she would not give up her search.
Apparently, when I knocked on Tina’s office door, she was just telling Lainie the angel story and they were calling Catholic stores in OUR area to see if a similar angel to the missing one could be found. When I opened my hand and she initially saw the box, she was, truly, in shock.
Tina and I always had a special connection, but this was truly our miracle. I loved Tina dearly and I think of her more times than I can say. Although Tina passed away after battling her cancer for many years, she held onto her joy for life, her enjoyment and love for her children, her new granddaughter, her husband and her friends until her last breath. I will never forget Tina, or the miracle of our “HOPE” Angel. To this day I have no idea how that angel came to be in my night table drawer and I don’t know why my instantaneous thought was that it needed to be in Tina’s hands. But, life works its miracles in amazing ways and sometimes we don’t need to understand it, we just need to appreciate the miracles all around us.
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