All my life it seems I've been followed around by angels. All of them are dressed up as regular people, but I'm slowly learning to not let that fool me.
The very first one I encountered in mortality was an angel called Dr. Spendlove. Mom's regular doctor was out of town when I decided it was time to make my entrance, so Doc Spendlove showed up to deliver me. The sixth child of nine, and the first they let Dad be in the room to see delivered, I threw them a curve ball. I came out with my cord all wrapped around my neck three times. Doctor Spendlove knew just what to do and quickly went about his business keeping me alive.
I must have really like the excitement of that experience seeing as how a few short weeks later I was sleeping peacefully on the seat in the back of my parents van on a shopping trip and Dad had to slam the brakes on quite hard to avoid an accident. After stopping, he jumped from the van to begin a frantic search for my small body. My mom had been thrown around too, seat belts weren't a big thing back in 1976, and I ended up underneath of her. Dad grabbed me out, certain I was dead, but I was pretty tired and slept through the whole thing. I think maybe this time my angel parents had a little help from angels on the other side of the veil as well.
Several other experiences come to mind as I scroll through the events of my life up to this point: My angel brother sticking up for me in school, my little angel sister Melody furiously riding her bicycle to the shop to tell my parents I'd had an accident on my bike, getting them there in time to see me taken away in an ambulance. My angel trainer on mission abandoning our morning study and taking me on a walk when she could see I was so homesick this was what I needed most. All the many, MANY angels who took care of my infant daughter over the six month period of sickness when I spent a couple months in the hospital fighting to stay on this earth so I could raise my baby myself. Especially my little angel sister Penny, who quit her job in Utah and moved to Oregon and set up residence in our tiny house to take care of Rachel so Denver could spend his time in the hospital with me. Other angels who brought in meals and did so much other selfless service for my family during this time. My angel husband, for never leaving my side through the entire ordeal. We celebrated our first anniversary in that hospital (that's another blog post all by itself!). I have a picture of him fast asleep on a VERY uncomfortable chair turned bed, I treasure this picture. It reminds me of how much I am loved by this angel I get to call my husband.
Three nights ago, on 16 July, I took our thirteen year old daughter and we went shopping to grab a few things we needed to have her ready for Girl's Camp that started this morning. After two stores, we drove ten miles North to Riverdale where my angel sister Karlinda lives. She made two really fun rings for Lexi to give to her assigned "secret sister" while she was at camp. After visiting for quite awhile, we finally left. I don't remember ever getting in the car and driving away, but I did. You see, I'm a diabetic (a result of the above mentioned sickness when my pancreas blew up due to complications from pregnancy induced gall stones). When I got in my car and tried heading the car South to take us home, my blood sugars were in the twenties. I drove like a highly intoxicated person winding my way North, with my daughter in the seat next to me. I thought I was having a bad dream, I really did. All I remember is my daughter screaming and sobbing, police lights and someone giving me circular Nutter Butter cookies. I remember thinking I didn't know they came in any shape other than that of a peanut. I woke up from my nightmare to the unfortunately familiar sounds of machines beeping away in a hospital room. There by my bed was my angel husband, holding my hand looking terrified and angry all at the same time. At the foot of my bed was our Lou. I said to Denver, please tell me this is a nightmare, I was so certain it was and more than anything I didn't want it to be real. He assured me it was indeed very real.
He was at home with our four younger children, he'd just gotten the youngest to sleep and not long after the phone rang. It was Lexi, she was sobbing and frantic. She had taken my cell phone and called him. "Dad, Juanita's really tired or something. She's not making any sense and she's driving really horribly and almost ran into a concrete barrier in the middle of the road!" Denver knew exactly what was happening and told her I wasn't tired, I was low. He instructed her to make me stop the car exactly where we were and to take the keys from me so I couldn't drive off again. We were sitting at a red light and cycled through several red lights with Lou sobbing into the phone. No, she didn't know where we were. No, she couldn't find any sugar in the car or my purse. She'd seen a Maverik about a half mile back. After her dad telling her to take my purse and my keys and run as quickly as she could to the Maverik and buy a Sprite and run back to make me drink it, an angel pulled up behind us. This one was all dressed up in a police uniform and had his lights spinning (I remember the lights spinning). Lou gave the phone to the officer after my angel husband forcefully insisting that's what she do since she was having a hard time doing anything other than crying. After Denver explained to the officer what was happening, he jumped into action. He called a fellow officer who has a diabetic daughter and she rushed over to wherever we were with Nutter Butters she happened to have in her car. They called the paramedics and started trying to save my life. They took care of my daughter.
Denver put in a late night phone call to our angel neighbor who we all just call Heather. 12:15am and her phone rings. "No problem, I'll be right there." Denver got to the hospital right after Lou and I did (they let her choose, ride in the ambulance or in the police cruiser, she chose the ambulance). I'm so grateful to the angel (who's name I don't even know) who took my daughter aside and talked to her of her upcoming Girl's Camp and other things to get her mind off what was happening and calm her down. Thank you Heavenly Father, for all these angels you've placed around me.
When these swarms of angels were congregated around me, they tested my blood sugar and it registered at 22. That's SCARY low. By the time I got to the hospital it was 28. An hour later I was up to 71 and waking up. My bad dream, that I wasn't actually enjoying but was glad it was really just a dream, started getting real. See, my stomach wasn't feeling super great and I had some serious gas. I figured I was just dreaming anyway, so I didn't try to hold it in. When I asked Denver to tell me it was just a nightmare and he didn't, this was the first source of my humiliation. Shallow, I know. Then Lexi leaned over to hug me and tell me everything was okay, nobody was hurt and it hit me what happened. Gone were the cares of passing gas in public to be replaced by the horror of the knowledge I'd almost killed my daughter, my angel I call Lou. It's not easy to calm a mother down after facing knowledge like that, but eventually they did. My Lou climbed up into my hospital bed with me, lay down on my I.V. in my arm and snuggled up to me, each of us drawing comfort from the other.
Lou told me stories of how awful I was to the many angels who worked so hard to save my life. While they were trying to give me an I.V. I wasn't very appreciative of what they were doing. "You people! I don't like you people! You're all a bunch of crap piles!" I was mortified and profusely apologized to them. Really, I don't normally call anyone "crap piles." The hours spent in the ER of McKay Dee were very long but we didn't lack for entertainment listening to Lou laugh over everything she now found so funny. Thank goodness kids are so resilient!
By 3:30am we were all home and in our own beds. Heather, grabbing what sleep she could before she had to work in the morning and then get her kids to church. Denver and I before we had to wake up and prepare our lessons we had put off preparing until then that we had to teach in church in too few hours. I was scared to let myself fall asleep. I lay awake in wonder at how blessed I am to be surrounded by so many angels no matter where I go. Good friends, perfect strangers and my husband and children. I am blessed. I am alive. I have angels walking around me all dressed up in people clothes.
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