So I've been known to do a little bit of 'blog-stalking'...one of the blogs I read told of the bloggers *angel* encounters. I replied that I too had *a story*...here it is.
I was a Senior in high school. 1994-95. The beginning of the year was awful. There were girls in my class that were just plain mean. You know the movie, Mean Girls? Well, I had no desire to see it, had my own mean girls! The 3 or 4 girls were able to make my year pretty miserable. I had my car keyed, I had nasty letters put in my locker, people pushed me in the hall, made fun of me, called me terrible names, accused me of things I had never done, you get the idea. They also plotted out to surround me and my date on the chartered bus to the Botanical Center for prom. They wanted to harm my dress, mess up my hair, make fun of me. The school found this out prior to the trip, thankfully, and seating arrangements changed. I was a boring kid. I'm not claiming I was perfect, but I was a good kid. Honestly, didn't do anything wrong, didn't drink, didn't have sex, didn't smoke. I was involved in a lot of school activities, cheerleading, vocal, band, musicals, speech, golf. I had a boyfriend who was a 'good guy.' He also didn't mind that I had several boys as friends. My parents were and still are married to eachother. I didn't have to work, because my parents always stressed that school was my job. All of these things were things "those" girls were jealous of. I wasn't an aggressive girl, not big on confrontation. But had had my full and finally had to go to the Principal's office to have a meeting with the main instigator of these happenings. My Dad warned him that if he didn't take care of it at school, the police would be involved. It is because of this that the Eldora-New Providence High School realized they needed to have a Harrassment/ Bullying procedure put in place. It's also because of this that I am not afraid of confrontation now and will always stand up for my kids & my family. Anyhoo...on to the *story.*
While all of these things were happening to me, my parents tried comforting me. Tried to explain things away. They did what they could to make me feel better but I still was petrified to go to school. Scared to walk to my car. Scared to make eye contact. Scared to talk in class. Scared to pick out clothes for school. Scared to go certain places. Scared to have fun. Scared to talk to certain friends. Mostly, scared to be me. So, my Mom would pray.
One night I was in my room, sittng on my bed reading a book. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a dusting of peachy color float past my window. Didn't think alot of it, mom had just turned the heat on for the year, so I thought it could be dust or something. But, it happened again, I looked up and it had disappeared. I got a little nervous so went and sat in a chair in the living room. Which was a little too close to the sliding doors for my liking and as I was getting up to move I saw the same peachy colored dust float out of my room, down the balcony hall, down the steps and skip around the corner down the basement steps. I never really saw a figure, but what I saw looked like the very bottom of a long skirt, white/gray on the bottom and faded up to peach. It moved flowing-ly and kind of skipped like a child would down the steps. I was freaked but didn't tell anyone what I had seen. Later in the week I would see the little skirt in my room, but just out of the corner of my eye.
October rolled around and the guy I was dating sang in the Central choir so we all traveled down to watch a concert. Afterwards, we ate at Pizza Hut, where they had decorated it in the cheesey blobs of cotton pulled to be cobwebs with spider rings stuck in them, Frankenstein on the salad bar, bats hanging in corners... My mom had a handfull of straws and napkins and as she sat down she said, " I probably shouldn't say this...but I've been seeing things at our house." I froze. I listened as she told her story and knew it was the same thing. My Dad noticed I looked a little shocked and there were tears in my eyes, he said, "What, now you're going to say you saw something too...?" He gave us each napkin to draw what we saw and we described it the exact same way. Mom later explained to me that since she couldn't be at school to protect me and comfort me, that she prayed that God would send a guardian angel to watch over me and give me peace. I believe that's exactly what I got! The year got better, the girls got bored with me and I ended up having a great Senior year thanks to another bunch of girls. Erin, Stephanie & Amber. They saw me coming out of the Principal's office that day and invited me to sit with them at lunch. From that day they kindly welcomed me and included me in their activities and watched out for me. They gave me a reason to go to school and I don't know if they really understand the comfort and safe feelings they provided me that year. We had a super fun Senior year growing our friendships and I am grateful that those relationships have continued into adulthood. (Love ya, Gals!!) It's not that I still don't feel my heart skip a beat when I see those same mean girls, but I'm confident about myself and realize, you know...they did have a lot to be jealous about. My life was and is...GOOD.
I have seen the angel again. A few times in college, I know Mom was praying for me then. I saw it when I lived in Adair and going through a divorce. Mom was praying even more then. I've even seen it since Ryan and I have been married...which freaked Ry out to know! I'm not afraid when I see it, but I smile and know that God is with me and I remember that prayer does change things. I have even used the same prayer for my babes. Maybe, someday, they'll have their own *stories.*
