Hello, Angel!

“Hello, Angel!”

by

C.T. VanHoose

Tragedy visited the home of Angel Byers. She was only eight but already had experienced both grief and loss. The death of her her father in a fatal car accident six months before had been hard for the pigtailed, freckled faced, and bright-eyed child to deal with. She could not fathom the idea of never again having her Daddy tuck her into bed, and tickle her sides and tell her, “don’t let the bed bugs bite,” before kissing her forehead and wishing her a goodnight. And the the piggyback rides, the games of hide and seek, and the shared smiles. She missed him greatly.

Angel’s mother, Katherine, felt torn in half a month after her husband’s death, when she discovered that she herself had brain cancer. Despite the doctors' extensive efforts, they could not fully remove the cancer. Two months later her private physician directed Katherine to get her affairs in order because her time to go was drawing near.

* * *
Tiny and frail, Katherine lay in the hospital bed. She had lost a great amount of weight. Dark bags sat beneath her eyes from lack of sleep and from shedding many tears, worrying about her child --- her sweet Angel. So much loss and pain in less than a year, she thought, while images of her daughter ran through her mind.

From the beginning, when Katherine first sat her daughter down and told her that she, her Momma, had been diagnosed with cancer, Angel had smiled and said, “Don’t worry Momma, God is with us.” Katherine had cried and agreed that God was indeed with them. Without the Good Lord, Katherine knew she would not have made it through her husband's death. The grief had been great, but with prayer and support she had survived.

Katherine had gone to her medical appointments and even into her first brain surgery with her wise little daughters words playing across her heart and mind, “Don’t worry... God is with us.” And even when she told her daughter that the operation failed and there was nothing more the doctors could do, Angel smiled and wrapped her arms around her mothers neck and cried, “Don’t be scared Momma, God is still with us.”

There was so much love and faith in Angel’s heart. Katherine could see it in her daughter’s eyes and hear it in her sweet voice. It made her heart ache, knowing that she would not be around to watch her precious daughter grow into a woman.

“God has a plan,” Katherine had often heard said. But she sometimes wondered exactly what His plan was in taking away a little girl's Mommy and Daddy. She had asked God one night while praying just to tell her why? That’s all she wanted to know. But God’s eternal voice did not boom down from the heavens and answer her cry. Instead, he sent Angel to her.

That night while eating dinner Angel looked over her bowl of soup and said, “You know what Mommy?”

“What?” Katherine asked.

“God sure does work in mysterious ways,” she answered before returning to her soup.

Katherine smiled, then. She did not understand or have a precise answer, but she believed that God did work in mysterious ways. She felt peace in her daughter’s words. There had to be a purpose for everything going on in God’s master plan, even if she did not know what it was. She just had to trust God and realize that He knew what he was doing and would see it through to the end.

It had taken time, but Katherine was okay with events. She was no longer scared of dying or scared of what would happen to Angel once she was gone. She knew that God would take care of her daughter, and her as well.

It was a quarter to seven at night. Katherine did not know how, but she felt in her heart that within the next hour she would pass from this life into the next. Around six, she had called her mother and father and asked them to bring Angel to the hospital. Her mother sensed the urgency in her daughter’s voice, and realized that Katherine’s final hours were near.

Angel walked into hospital room, wearing her favorite dress, made of the most crisp white cloth and lace that Katherine had ever seen. Her parents, who would have custody of Angel, after Katherine's death, followed her into the room.

“Hi Momma!” Angel squealed in delight at the sight of her mother.

“Hi! How’s my little Angel doing?” Katherine fought to manage a weak smile.

“Fine Momma. I’ve been baking cookies with Grandma all day,” Angel proudly reported.

“And quite the little helper she has been." Katherine’s Mom smiled as she approached the bed, hiding her anguish. It hurt her so much to see Katherine lying there in her weakened state.

“Help me up Papa,” Angel called out while trying to climb onto her mother’s bed.

“Upsie daisy,” her grandfather said, he placed the young girl in bed with her mother. “It’s good to see you Katherine,” he spoke softly.

Time passed quickly as Katherine listened to Angel recount the day's events with little assistance from her grandparents who were looking upon Katherine with sadness in their eyes.

A moment of silence filled the room when Angel had completed her story.

“I...” Katherine began. She shut her eyes for a moment fighting back tears. “Mom… Dad…”

Tears began to stream from the corners of her father's eyes. She had never seen him cry before. “I just wanted to say thanks … thanks for taking care of Angel and for taking care of me all the days of my life. You are the best parents that a daughter could ever have.” Katherine could no longer hold her tears back no matter how hard she tried. “Angel is lucky to have you now. I love you two so much.”

“We love you to,” her father said. He leaned over and hugged his daughter for the last time and kissed her on the forehead. Katherine’s mother did the same. Katherine looked at her parents who both stood crying and smiled at them. They all three knew that they were saying goodbye.

“We’ll give you a moment with Angel,” her mother managed to whisper through the tears before exiting the room with her husband, leaving Angel and Katherine alone.

A wonderful smile radiated from Angel’s face. It was the first thing Katherine noticed when she gazed upon her child's face. At that moment she truly looked like an angel sent from heaven.

“What are you thinking about?” Angel asked as her mother continued to look at her.

“I was thinking about the day you were born.”

“Tell me about it."

“It was in January. A terrible snowstorm had hit the town and all the roads were covered in ice. Your Grandma and Papa had been at the house with us, snowed in for two days.

“I went into labor while knitting on the couch. Your father tried to back the car out of the driveway but it was too slippery and dangerous so we called for an ambulance.” Katherine paused for a moment.

“Wasn’t it too slippery for the ambulance?” Angel asked.

“Yes it was. The ambulance didn’t make it in time. You wanted out of my tummy bad!” Katherine managed a whispered laugh.

“So what did you do?” Angel’s eyes were wide with amazement.

“Well, your grandma delivered you right there in our living room. Your daddy and I looked at you and all we could do was cry. We cried because as soon as we looked into your face we realized how much we instantly loved you. We loved you so much that it hurt.” Katherine was crying again. “You know what your daddy did after he stopped crying?”

“What?” Angel questioned with great interest as she wiped tears from her mommy’s eyes.

“He was so excited that he ran out the front door and jumped into the snow. He rolled onto his back and started making snow angels like you and him always did. Then he suddenly ran back into the house and shouted, ‘That’s it! She’s an Angel! Our Angel!’ So from then on out you were known as Angel Marie Byers.”

“Wow!” Angel said. “That’s really neat!”

“Yes … yes it was,” Katherine coughed.

“Momma?”

“Yes Angel.”

“Don’t be scared. It’s okay. God is with us,” Angel’s words of wisdom once again comforted her mother’s soul.

“Angel… I need to…”

“It’s okay Momma. I know that you love me. But don’t be scared. God needs you now. Grandma and Papa will take care of me,” Angel said as tears filled her own eyes. “When you get to heaven kiss daddy’s forehead for me and hug God’s neck and tell them that I love you all.”

Katherine started to feel dizzy and her breathing grew shallow.

“Goodbye Angel,” Katherine whispered.

“No Momma! Don’t say that! Don’t say goodbye,” Angel cried. “You can tell me hello instead some day. Don’t say goodbye because I will see you again in heaven. Then you can say, ‘Hello, Angel!” That’s much better don’t you think?” Angel looked into her mothers eyes.

“No goodbyes then,” Katherine murmured. “How about see you later?”

“That’s good Momma! I love you!” Angel sobbed as she rested her head upon her mother’s chest.

“I love you too,” Katherine spoke her final words as an invisible cloak of warmth and overwhelming peace rained down upon her soul. She could feel the light fluttering of angel wings brushing against her arms. Soon … very soon, she would greet her husband beyond the Gates of Glory with a great, “Hello!” She would kiss his forehead and give a God a giant hug from the little girl known as Angel.

In Loving Memory of
Forest E. Osborne
February 19, 1919 – December 6, 2002
(I may not have gotten to say goodbye,
but one day
I will get to say Hello! --- You are greatly missed.)