Guardian Angels

I used to be really skeptical about whether angels existed or not. Believing that a lost loved one somehow sprouted wings and watched over us from the clouds just seemed too outrageous to me. I remember when my great aunt died when I was 6 and I would go around trying to see her face looking over the edge of a cloud. I never saw her.

That all changed the night of my senior prom. You see, big events and I don't get along very well. For every good moment in my life, there's a bad one that immediately follows. I woke up the next morning to the news that my grandmom, who helped raise me, had passed away in her sleep. I was absolutely devastated.

The week before prom, she took me out jewelry shopping. I picked out a necklace and earrings and was ready to go, but she had set her eyes on this $3 bracelet. She finally talked me into getting it, despite the fact that I am not a bracelet person.

Halfway through prom, I noticed that the bracelet had disappeared. My husband (don't worry- he wasn't my husband at the time) and I spent the rest of the night checking bathrooms, scouring the dance floor, and asking people if they'd seen it. It's ridiculous the amount of time we spent looking for that $3 bracelet, but we went home empty handed, or empty wristed.

The next morning, I called him to tell him the news of my grandma's passing. That's weird, he said. He went to return the tux he rented and noticed that there was a pocket on the inside of the jacket that he hadn't noticed before. It was sewn shut, but he could feel something inside. So he got some scissors and cut it open to reveal my broken bracelet.

I know there could be a million ways that bracelet could have ended up in his jacket, but I like to believe that it was my grandmom's way of telling me she was ok and that she is looking down on me. I don't have to look for her face peering over a cloud- she gave me something physical.

And now Cadie has her own guardian angel. I know my mother-in-law is up there brushing wings with my grandmom.