Grandma's Angels

Nine years ago this week, my mom was preparing to leave this earth, and my sisters, Dad, and I sat vigil with her so that she would not be alone when time came for her to pass.

Emily and Ethan were little, just 3, and to make things easier with child care, they stayed out at my parents' house with Colleen and me instead of us trying to find babysitters for them.  Emily and I slept on a pallet on the living room floor, and she and Ethan entertained each other during the days of that long week.

On the Thursday before Mom died on Saturday, it was my turn to sit with her.  I got up quietly so as not to wake Emily and was sitting in Mom's room sewing when I saw the door slowly open and Emily poke her head in and smile at me.

"Can I come in?" she whispered.

I patted my lap, and she crawled up onto it, and we sat with her back to my front and her head nestled up under my chin. We were quiet for several minutes, just sitting there snuggling.  Then she turned her face up to me and whispered,

"Did you know that there are angels in this room?"

Goosebumps on my skin, I replied, "There are?  What do they look like?"

I expected her to give me the typical description of an angel to a 3-year-old...white with wings and a halo...but instead she said,

"They're gold!  And they have light!"

Barely able to breathe, I asked, "What are they doing?"

She looked over at my mom, sleeping in the hospital bed, and replied, "They're waiting to take Grandma to see Jesus!" and she smiled as bright as the sun and snuggled back down into my lap.

For the life of me, I could not see anything in the room that would make her say that.  It was not for trying, because I looked all around, but all I saw was the dresser and the windows and the closet door...I wished I could see what she saw.

One of my friends had the presence of mind to suggest that I have Emily draw what she saw that night, so a few days after Mom died, I gave Emily a piece of paper and some markers and asked her to draw the angels she saw in Grandma's room.  She got down to work and this is what she drew:

My mom is red with brown curls, lying in a bed with green covers.  The angels are the yellow faces.  Two have wings and two don't.  I don't know who the green person is.  Whenever I get down, especially this time of year, I get out this picture and remember the faith of children and what they can see with their untarnished eyes, and it gives me hope.