Angels again

OK, Mim reminded me that I had not mentioned another angel who would probably be attending the gymnastics meet, our Lillie. She was definitely there; she's always looking after "her girls". I thought this would be a good time to introduce you to Lillie Walker, who next to our parents, taught us Hall girls many valuable life lessons.

We moved to Eustis when I was 3 years old, and Mama was very pregnant with Miriam. We moved into a house right next door to Dr. Debo, who became our family doctor and introduced Lillie into our lives. She was, for lack of a better word, our "Nanny". Mama carried Miriam into the 11th month of her pregnancy, and Lillie took care of Margaret and me, and then later, Miriam, when Mama returned to help Daddy with the nursery business.

Lillie was "colored"...she insisted on that term, even when the world became "enlightened", and the "word" became black. "It took me a long time to not be a "N....." and be "colored", I don't need no more changes." Lillie was born on a plantation in Tallahassee, and was never formally educated. But that lady knew that a "N....." was not just black, she used that term on black and white folks alike. Anyone that received one of her notes, though the spelling was not up to par, valued it for the love it contained.

Some lessons:
1. When you go out to pick your "switch", there are some decisions to be made...the little skinny ones, stung like the dickens, but the big ones could leave a lingering pain..maybe 30 seconds or so. Funny, I cannot remember the "switchin", but I DO remember the decision making on the "switch".
2. If you get an invitation to a party, and you weren't invited, at first, but only after the other little girl couldn't make it...you do not go. "You are nobody's second choice."
3. When a restaurant makes one of the family eat in the kitchen, you better believe that the younger members of the family cannot understand the "prejudices" and "rules" of the day. You might just lose a customer, or worse still, have to deal with a screamin' youngun', who is completely dependent on that wet dishrag that Lillie so lovingly supplied after every meal. Nope....even the whitest, fanciest, cloth napkin could not replace the love from her hands.
4. Santa Claus will NOT come while you are still awake!

Lillie, along with Mama and Daddy, taught us all so much, during times that prejudice and hatred ran rampant. There were separate drinking fountains, racist sheriffs, back doors and separate waiting areas for the doctors' offices, "invitations" from the KKK, ad nauseum, ad nauseum.....

We three Hall girls grew up learning respect and love for our Lord and our fellow men and women, regardless of race, or any other labeling system, the world threw out. We were "poor" in material things, but rich in love; no one was "better" than us AND we were "better" than no one else; nothing was more important than giving and receiving love..... just check your selfish, ornery, attitudes at the front door OR be ready to "Pick out your switch"!

Angels Part 3

I am going to end my "angel" series talking about one of Dean's and my earthly angels. We have 4, you know, Ruthie, Rusty, Philip Dean"Flip", and Ellie, our grandchildren. We share these "grand" angels with Gwen and Joe, and Phil and Susan. I also want to share a little something about 3 angels from above.

This weekend, Ruthie competes in her very first competitive gymnastics meet. We got a sneak peek this weekend, as she showed some "moves" on the front yard. When she set that jaw and pushed those lips tightly together...I could see Adam standing up at the plate, getting ready for the pitch. Thankfully, when she began her routine, I could see Lori's beauty and grace. Don't get me wrong...anyone who has seen Adam's Olympic "dismount" will say "it is a thing of beauty " :)

So after years of hard work and practice and the recent recovery from a stress fracture...our little earthly angel is taking center stage.

Now, here is my take on our angels above. I believe that God lets them take a break every once in awhile and lets them take in an earthly show..Well, I know at least three that will be taking a jaunt over to Daytona for a beginning gymnastics meet.

First, my mama, Grandma Frances Hall, who left us 13 years ago in October. I believe her "steady" job is protecting the travelers... she did that while she was on the earth...she wanted to know whenever we were on the road or in the air...so she could concentrate her prayers at that particular time. I believe her most noted success was getting Adam all the way from Auburn to Eustis, by himself, in the dark!!

Next, two years later in May, we said goodbye to Uncle Rusty. I believe his "steady" job is being able to speedily and with great strength, get to the emergency situations and cushion the blows. I know that an angel was there to cushion Flip's fall from the front stoop; and one was there to guard Ruthie on the seawall until Lori could get there...A couple of Rusty's assignments?

And lastly, Dean's dad, PaPa. His steady job has got to be flying with those pilots in Iraq, Afghanistan, and anywhere else that young men are in the air facing great peril... He literally has his own "wings", and doesn't have to worry about anymore crash landings! Dad left us two years ago, this weekend. Coincidence?? No, I don't believe so...10 years ago, December, after heart surgery, he made his way from the floor above to hold his new great-granddaughter, Ruthie. So, this weekend, he will "pilot" the others coming from above, to watch one of their earthly angels "strut her stuff"!!

So, do angels get to sometimes call their own assignments?? Does God let them come back and visit and cheer at a gymnastics meet?? Did our God create this entire cosmos?? Did he hang the stars?? Does He love us that much?? I know what I believe...

Angels Part 2

I went back , wayyyyy back for this story about angels in my life.

I was about 10, and had spent the night with a friend in Umatilla. I was dropped off at our house earlier than Mama and Daddy expected, 'cause the rest of my family was at a rodeo, which left me alone with just this pitiful grasshopper, that my sister, Mim, had closed up in a glass jar. Obviously she intended to let the poor insect die a cruel and grisly death, so I was going to do something about THAT. No, NOT because I truly cared about the life of that yucky grasshopper, I had ended many a beautiful butterfly's life in a similar fashion, for my "collection". Don't get excited, this was way before the "green" movement. No, I was just being my normal mean self. I knew Mimmie would be really mad that I had SAVED her grasshopper.

So, I went to the drawer and pulled out a butcher knife. I know folks my age remember how easy it was to pop holes in the metal lid of a jar, with a knife. And, I, too was creating many air "slashes" until..ooops, I missed the jar, and the knife went in between the thumb and first finger of my left hand. I was too young to know what I had done, but it was bleeding in a very "funny" way. It seemed to be spurting up out of the wound.

I went to the bathroom to get some gauze to wrap up and stop the bleeding, but it just bled right through. I unwrapped that gauze and wrapped another "package" around the wound..still no luck. So what else was I to do?? I went out to the "Florida" room and sat and cried while I held my hand.

Then, my angels... My neighbor, across Windemere St., just happened to be walk outside to get something...he could hear my cries, because in the days of no air conditioning, all the jalousie windows were open. He came in, swooped me up, and took me to the Emergency Room.

By the time my frantic Daddy, who had found all the blood, when he came home ahead of the rest of the family, got to the Emergency Room, I was stitched up and ready to go home.

My angels were certainly watching over me that day!!! Hey Mim, did that grasshopper ever get his??

Angels?

A friend asked me recently, do you believe in angels and would you care to share a story?? So, here is one story that came flooding back.

The year was 1994, and Adam had started his freshman year at Auburn. Thanksgiving was coming up, and as has been the practice since Dean was swimming,the swimming team could not take time off for Thanksgiving to come home.

Dean and I decided to ask Lori if she would like to join us, and bring Thanksgiving to him. So, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we loaded up and headed for I-75 and the 8 1/2 hour trip to Auburn. I was driving the first leg, Dean in the front passenger, and Lori in the back.( No, Pinellas County Schools, I wasn't really sick that day).

As we approached "Malfunction Junction",that wonderful area of road in Tampa where I-4 (the high road)and I-275 (the low road) clumsily try to meet up, the traffic was pretty heavy, as usual. "Something" made me look up, as we started to go under I-4. A truck was scraping and bouncing along the side of the highway above us, and I actually observed it "hopping" up and one wheel hanging over. I knew that truck was coming over.

Most first instincts would be to hit the brakes, but I hit the accelerator, and for those of you who know me, closed my eyes!! I began slowing down, because something was being dragged under the car, and Dean was gently nudging my arm and telling me to pull over. So I opened my eyes and did that. Behind us, in the exact place where we had been, was a large truck, upside down and flattened on the highway. Behind it were three lanes of cars, all stopped and stacking up. We were the only car to make it through, along with a vehicle that had been a few seconds ahead of us. Under the car was a round piece of metal that had come off the truck as it fell, or after it hit. That is just how close the three of us came, to joining the driver of that truck (the accident was not his fault) as fatalaties on that Thanksgiving weekend.

All I could think of, as Lori and I walked back to the stillness of that scene, was how devastated Adam would have been if his whole "world" had left him that day. Someone else's whole "world" had left in that moment...arm in arm, lost in our prayers and thoughts, Lori and I walked back to the car, which Dean had cleaned up and started up, and we continued on to celebrate Thanksgiving with Adam.

Why do I attribute this to angels and God's intervention? 2 things... I hit the accelerator instead of stomping on the brakes, which would have been anyone's, including my, first instincts. OK OK..I still probably shouldn't have shut my eyes, but as you can tell, we were being guided. The second thing, if something had not made me look up, no telling... I do not go under any "overpass" since that day, without thanking God for giving us a few more days, and praying that he is looking out for that man's family.

So yes!!! Emphatically, I say, "I believe in angels!"