Losing a loved one is not easy for sure. Uncle Frank had lost his wife and was grieving. Rachel (my niece), Debbie (my sis), and I went to his place for the weekend to stay with him through this time. When we were around, uncle Frank was pleasantly sober, but when left alone, he started brooding. When he was in one of those spells we went to check on him. He was seated by the fire place on his arm chair and softly sobbing. We just stood by, silent. There are no words for this occasion. We didn’t want to talk about the aunt or loss as it would only trigger a strong response. We just stood. Rachel slipped and sneaked out. Hmmm….good to be kids. They just can switch on and off and never need to go through all this. Sure enough, in a few minutes she was back with her favorite teddy toy. She has gone all the way to her room and dug into her backpack to find her toy. She took long baby steps to reach the arm chair. Climbed using the arms for balance and made room for herself in uncle Frank’s lap. The old man stopped sobbing and stared at Rachel. She said in a soft voice, “Uncle Frank, please keep my teddy toy with you.” Uncle, “But my little one, what’s that for?” Rachel, “Whenever I cry, mom gives me the teddy and says that she is my best friend and I wouldn’t feel alone in the night after mom has tucked me up for the night. I never cry when I have the teddy around.” And she added with a toothy grin, “See, what did I say, look at you, you’ve stopped crying.”
Sure enough! Uncle Frank had stopped crying.
Some sight, after a few minutes, the chair was bobbing up and down while uncle Frank was sleeping with around Rachel with the teddy resting on her lap.
And I thought angels were creatures who wore white-wedding dress and carry a wand.
You know, sometimes they carry teddies!
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