I can’t really point to a time that my life has been restful, at least not since I was seven years old and I spent my third grade year in six different schools that stretched from Houston Texas to California and back again. I seriously believe that the tumultuous journey coupled with my father’s untimely death at the end of the school year destroyed my adventurous nature. Instead I have tended to proceed from day to day with caution and a sense that all of my best laid plans may never come to fruition. I work hard to be prepared for the worst possible scenario which has kept me able to react quickly to the many challenges that have seemingly blocked my path. I tend to expect the unexpected which adds a bit of anxiety to my daily life but also insures that I am ready for the craziest events that may come my way. 

I sometimes laugh at myself because I am so obsessive about keeping my life on an even keel so that it will not fall apart in the event of an emergency. My life story has taught me that the best laid plans do go awry and more often than we might wish. I’ve learned how to be nimble in my reactions to death, illnesses, and changes that upend my dreams. In some years of my life I have had to fall back on plans from B to Z. So I have learned that the entire trajectory of my life can make a one hundred eighty degree turn in a millisecond, forcing me to use my wits to find my way back on a different route than the one housed in my dreams. 

So far my grit has kept me moving forward even as I have had to circle back from a different perspective. I suppose that my story is far from unique and definitely not as difficult as vast numbers of people who have endured suffering. For the most part there have always been helpers who saw my dilemmas and volunteered to help me recalibrate my compass. 

I have not always been as ready to reciprocate the support for others struggling with their own difficulties. I am one of those clueless souls who has had to actually experience a specific hardship to understand the anxieties involved with it. As I have walked through my life I have had to actually touch and feel the impact of death, family illnesses, mental illness and most recently the challenges of caring for an elder parent. I’m a quick learner but until I have actually experienced a difficulty on my own I do not always understand the depth of determination required to handle it. 

What I do now know is that none of us are immune from life’s tragedies and some seem to experience more than their fair share. Those folks need to have someone let them know that they are not alone. Most of us can weather even the most terrible storms if we see that we have beautiful souls rooting for us and carrying some of the load for us. It is only when it seems that nobody cares that we lose our focus and determination. 

The world is quite busy and its easy to feel lost in it. Fortunately we all know those remarkable souls who show up on our doorsteps like guardian angels just when we need them. Each hurricane season I think of a storm called Harvey that reeked havoc in my city as more than fifty inches of rain fell nonstop over a period of four days. I was terrified in that time because my husband Mike had just had a stroke and the doctors told us that there was a chance that he might have a second one in the weeks afterward. As the rain filled the streets and many of the homes I realized that if he were to have an emergency we might be left to our own resources. That’s when an angel appeared from nowhere.

One of my former students who lives nearby came to our house to check on us. He brought us a pair of rabbit ears so that we might still use our television if the cable went out. He made sure that we had all of his contact information and assured us that he and his brother-in-law would be able to get Mike to the nearest hospital using a big family truck. He had even attempted the journey to be certain that he would be able to navigate the waters. He then continually checked on us via text for the next many days. I was overwhelmed with thankfulness for his loving concern. Then I watched as friends and strangers alike came to the rescue for those desperately attempting to survive the floods all over the city. 

There were no artificial divisions based on politics, income, education, race or sexual preferences during hurricane Harvey. We were all united in a common cause and it was a beautiful thing to see. Sadly we don’t always turn such emergencies into shining moments. Instead we go inward, not making the effort to even notice that someone is suffering and in need of our help.

I am admittedly not the best at setting aside my own anxieties and carving out time to be a beacon of hope, but I have known some of the very best souls who seemed to be attuned to the needs of others and then act on their concerns. I try my best to remember how relieved I was when my Uncle Jack helped so much after my father died. I have never forgotten how Mrs. Barry came to my rescue when I was a young inexperienced woman trying to get help for my mother’s mental illness. I think of the dozens and dozens of times that my dear friend, Linda, has made great efforts to help me when I was adrift with life’s troubles wearing me down. Often my saviors have been people that I hardly knew or someone quite unexpected. Some individuals are so attuned to others that they just naturally show up whenever there is an emergency. They are our angels on this earth. 

I have traversed many tragedies but I am not as brave and wise as it may sometimes seem. I would have drowned in self pity were it not for the good Samaritans who had the compassion to minister to me in my darkest times. They were teaching me how to be a better person and they did so without fanfare. The angels are all around us and hopefully when the need arises we can be angels as well.