Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Banquet Earth Angel

For weeks all the Pioneer Girls were anticipating the annual Mother Daughter Banquet. All the girls except for me.

My Mom had just passed away a few month’s earlier and just thinking about sitting alone and watching all the other girls talking, laughing and eating with their Moms made my heart ache and tears come to my eyes. I felt so sad and alone at the thought of accepting my earned award without seeing my Mom clapping, smiling, hearing her congratulating me and feeling her hugging me when I returned to the table?

Finally the day approached. With cleaned and pressed uniform, I climbed into my group leader’s car to go to the banquet. All the way there I tried to think of ways to avoid being alone. Maybe I could sit with my group leader? Maybe I could sit with my sister who was also a Pioneer girl? Maybe I could sit with my best Pioneer Girl friend and her Mom? Maybe it wouldn‘t be so bad after all?

When we arrived at the Church, I found out my group leader had a special table in the front of the room because she was going to be giving out the awards, I couldn’t sit with her. Then I found out my sister was going to be sitting in a different room with the girls in her own age group, I couldn’t sit with her either. I found my best friend and her Mom and we went to the table with the name tags. As we pinned on our name tags, we were instructed to go to another table with place cards and to take our seats. At the place card table I found out my friend and her Mom weren’t even sitting at the same table as me!

Standing all alone with my name tag on and my place card in my hand, my heart started to ache. Just as the tears were about to escape from my eyes, a woman walked up to me. She said, “I don’t have a little girl here today. Could I sit with you?” My heart ached for her. Not having a little girl of her own must be as bad for her as not having my Mom with me was for me. I smiled at the woman and said, “Yes.“ She took my hand and helped me find our table.

It is many years later now and I can’t remember what the woman in my story said her name was. A Christian woman who took time out of her own day to search for a little girl she had never met before by name tag. A Christian woman who took my hand, sat with me, talked to me, laughed with me, shared a meal with me, clapped for me, smiled with me and congratulated me. I no longer even try to remember what her given name was. I know the name God gave her that day was Earth Angel, and so it always will be to me.

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