This happened about three years ago.
Kiddo#2 came into my bedroom where I was folding laundry and asked what I was doing. “Nothing,” I said. She asked what I had stepped on (huh?) and I said nothing again.
She asked, “What does your guardian angel do?”
I replied, “Lots of things.”
For reference, this is the same Kiddo who came to me one day when she was three, and out of the blue, said to me, “Mommy? Are guardian angels nice? Or do they be rude?” To which I replied, “Angels are always polite.” And then, very very cautiously, I said, “Sweetie, why do you want to know?” But she didn’t reply with, “Well, I wanted to know if I can go talk to that one over there” so all was well. Chalk it up to childhood curiosity (which is also the category where the next conversation should be chalked up.)
She said, “Does he do macaroni and cheese?”
No, I replied, he probably has never done macaroni and cheese. (If he has, then I need to seriously reconsider my understanding of Heaven, but I digress.)
Then she said, “Does he do the macaroni and cheese dance?”
The macaroni and cheese dance?
“Yes,” she said giggling.
I said no, he probably had never done that either.
Then Kiddo#2 proceeded to do a dance right there in my bedroom, waving her arms and pivoting in place, smirking but at the same time being completely serious about her sweeping gestures and four-year-old version of gracefulness. She confirmed for me that yes indeed, this was the macaroni and cheese dance.
I managed to hold it together enough to say, “Well, now that he’s seen it, he knows how to do it, so he can add it to the list of things he can consider doing.”
And when I said that, I felt this tension high up in my throat and shoulders, and I knew my guardian angel was laughing.
I post this so that now you too can add something to the list of things you can consider doing: if you ever want to make an angel laugh, ask him if he can do the macaroni and cheese dance. If necessary, demonstrate.
okay, this post is about angels but not exactly this post (although i truly loved the mental image of the macaronie and cheese dance from both your daughter and your angel) – but i’m not sure how to reach outside this blog any longer. i recently came across a song that i really love and every single time i hear it, either God or my guardian angel puts your name in my head. the song is “entertaining angels” by the newsboys. you may not like it at all but the first time i heard it was when i was re-reading your scavangers story “promises” the other night and the line in the song “close as a brother, the way we used to be” seemed to fit mark and jason so well. anyway. at least now i’ve told you about the song so perhaps the itching in my head will go away. except…there’s one other song… “remember me” by mark schultz. don’t know why. again i think of you, botp, and other random things that pull at my heart. if this post has been an irritant, please please let me know and i’ll not do it again.
I’ll check out the songs, thanks! I’ll check out the lyrics and maybe pick them up on iTunes (mmmm….must download more ninety-nine cent songs… ) 🙂
You’re certainly not “an irritant.” 😉 Your feedback and comments are important, and I enjoy reading them even when I don’t get my head together enough to reply.
Question (out of curiosity, I am like a child in that I never stopped asking questions): how do you know your guardian angel is a he? Or is it just a supposition?
and a more serious one: how do our guardian angels interact with us? What’s the difference between their actions and inspirations and, say, the actions and inspirations of the Holy Spirit?
Thanks!
Knit_tgz, the answer to those are two separate blog entries. But I’ll try.
First answer: angels are not gendered, but they have *characteristics*. Human beings tend to classify characteristics are more pertaining to one gender than the other. And we don’t have a personalized gender-neutral term in English. So if you were interacting with an angel over time and it felt to you as if the angel were nurturing, made connections, didn’t treat things hierarchically, and so on, you might slip into calling the angel “she” over time just because those are characteristics we associate with femininity.
In other words, it’s supposition, but that’s my basis for it. Of our seven, two seem to be “she” and the other five seem to be “he” but I’m totally open to being wrong about it. I don’t think they mind, or at least, they don’t seem to.
Second answer: it’s REALLY hard to know who did what, but I tend to figure based on degree of difficulty. 🙂 If it’s something humongous, or if it self-identifies as coming from God, then I assume it’s God. If it’s something little and I’ve asked the angel for help with it, I assume it’s the angel (ie, “Please help me find my cell phone which has been missing for two months” and it turns up five minutes later in front of the angel’s picture) and that’s who gets thanked for it.
Regardless, of course, the guardian is there at God’s orders and is clearly operating through the power of God, so that’s important to keep in mind. Also, if you say “Thank you” to an angel and it’s really God’s doing, then the angel is highly unlikely to say, “YEAH! I’m THAT awesome!” and is more likely to say, “Philangelus meant that for you because she’s a doofus” and God knows and, I hope, agrees with a smile.
I am really curious on how you got to be so close with your guardian angels. I am asking questions because whenever things happen I always attribute them to the Providence. But I remember praying for my guardian’s protection as a child and wonder if I am missing the chance for a friendship that could lead me more towards God.
And also: Is there an email address to where I may write you? There’s a couple of things I don’t feel comfortable writing about here, that are related to my sudden curiosity about guardian angels.
(P.S.: in my language, “angel” is a masculine word (anjo). Like God is a masculine word (Deus). Yes, I’m Portuguese, and yes, it helps me understand some Latin even though I never studied it).
I’ve got your email address, so I’ll email you.
I’m not sure if I ever posted on the weblog the “how we met” story (keeping in mind that I’ve never knowingly seen an angel) but if I haven’t, I should.
(Ah, I posted a hint of the story here.)
i would love it if you would post that story. my daughter has been asking so many questions about angels and i know as she’s weaving through these early teen years that the thoughts of an angel being with her all the time brings her comfort. she understands that God is with her, but the angel seems more personal sort of.
thanks for your response above. i didn’t mean to imply that i expect a response everytime i comment, i was just concerned that that particular comment might be too far off topic or too personal and i wouldn’t want to come across as a troll. i admire you very much. your weblog has been such a blessing to me and now my daughter.
hope you, Patient Husband and Kiddo #4 get more sleep tonight!
Pingback: How to make a human laugh « Seven angels, four kids, one family