The Three Angels

Thanks y'all for letting me 'vent' yesterday. Boy do I feel better! Not that much has changed... but being able to journal how I'm feeling really helps put things into focus. Sure ain't all that bad folks, let me tell ya! We've seen worse no doubt and I'm well aware of it. For that matter, I'm equally well aware of how truly blessed I am. I suppose if we didn't have those days when we sat and reflected it would be nearly impossible to see how really blessed we are.

Chris was home yesterday when the kids got home from school and was able to witness first-hand the 'feeding frenzy' that goes on at the Rhocchini house when the kids get home. First of all let me say that -- my wonderful husband -- after reading my blog and seeing how I felt yesterday (yes, even he doesn't really know how I'm feeling at times until I blog about it) -- had the perfect evening set up for me. Kids did their chores... were doing homework and studying when I got home... dinner was in the oven.... I even got to go to Jonathan's 'fort' he built on Spring break at a creek down the street after dinner... just a GREAT night. (Thanks hon! I love you!) Anyways... I didn't know about the 'feeding frenzy' right away. It was at the dinner table when Kayla and Jonathan were picking at their food. We had Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti. Kayla was picking at the chicken... smelling it as if it were a foreign fish or something... "ITS JUST CHICKEN!" I tell her, frustrated because she seemed to be so picky, not able to comprehend why she's giving this breaded chicken such a hard time. That's when Chris tells me what they ate after school. Let's just tell you what Kayla ate... she only had Romain Noodles.... but not a bowl... she had a mixing bowl full. No wonder she wasn't hungry!!! Jonathan as well is guilty... usually he'll have cereal or oatmeal plus a whole bag of popcorn as an 'after school snack'. These kids have completely re-defined what a 'snack' is let me tell ya. So of COURSE we forced them to eat every single thing on their plate.

So... good news about Julie and the girls. Our Church, VanDyke, is having a mother/daughter luncheon on May 5th. The girls have talked about me going with them... but I'm not their mom, ya know? It would feel a little.... weird. I talked to Julie last night and I've decided to let her go with the girls. It's going to be a breakfast, photos, a concert by a Christian singer, a lunch, give aways, and of course prayer. Don't know if Julie will like it or not, but for sure she'll enjoy being with her girls to celebrate Mother's Day a bit early. I was talking to someone at church about it, unsure on what to do - I didn't want to register myself because I wasn't 'mom', yet by law I'm required to be there with them.... so she suggested I go as a volunteer and work. What a GREAT idea, huh?? So that's exactly what I'm doing. Please pray that God will speak to Julie that day! It should be fun.... I'll keep you posted.

I also didn't blog about our weekend fun with some good friends, Peggy and Al. Chris and I went out on Saturday morning and spent the day on their boat. Fun. Friends. Boat. Ocean. Margaritas. Just doesn't get any better than that my friends, does it? Hee hee. We really had a good time, and thanks so much to Peggy and Al for getting us out of the house to have some fun!

So... I feel like telling another story - and I know which one I should tell - but not sure if I'm going to get it right. It's Chris's story and he tells it better than I... and I'll probably mess up many of the details... but I'll give it a shot.

It's about Chris's 3 Angels. Before this experience, Chris did not really believe in 'Angels'.

Chris was up North somewhere after visiting his father. I couldn't get off work, and he took the two kids with him. Jonathan was an infant at the time, Amanda was 7. Money was tight then and he couldn't afford to rent a car to come back nor to fly... he had to take a Greyhound bus home.

Now... I don't know if any of you have even ridden Greyhound... but from what Chris tells me, a Greyhound station is like the armpit of the world... anything and everything good and bad all mixed up in one place.... although more 'bad' than good tends to wander around the bus depot. Smelly, dirty, and I'm not just talking about the people... everything there has it's own 'ick' factor.

Chris gets to the station and purchases his tickets to Tampa. I forget the actual time and bus number, but for story sake let's just say he purchased tickets for the 2 pm bus to Tampa, route #123. His dad who had dropped him off and asks if he should stay... but it was only an hour or so away, so Chris told him he could leave and Chris checks the luggage.

Chris sits and waits.... infant sleeping on his shoulder, 7 year old Amanda playing close by his side... sitting waiting for his bus.

When 2 pm rolls around and he doesn't see a bus, he gets back in line to ask where the bus is. He's told there is no 2 pm bus, #123, going to Tampa today. He explained he just purchased the tickets, how could that be? But they insist... no such bus exists. They tell him the next bus going to Tampa will be 9 pm tonight and that he can get on that bus.

Frustrated, Chris goes back to sit and wait.

You have to mentally try to get the picture of poor Chris... a young dad... infant boy sleeping on one arm, diaper bad slung over his shoulder, and him trying his best to keep his 7 year old daughter close by his side as the people walking around look like they could easily be on 'most wanted' posters.

Then -- what no man wants to hear from their little girl actually happens.

"Daddy, I have to go to the bathroom!"

What is he to do? He can't go in there with her, obviously. But, she's too old to go to the men's room. So... he sends her into the women's bathroom alone. And he sits............... and waits.

And waits... and waits............. Amanda does not come out. He waits a little longer... still nothing.

He waits to the point where he is pure panic-stricken. Look at the people here... surely someone could have taken this blonde hair blue eyed angel. I'm sure at some point poor Chris is trying to figure out how he's going to go home and tell his wife he lost their daughter. What to do? What to do?

Finally he gives in.... he asks a woman - a stranger - if she could please go into the bathroom and check on his little girl. I can only imagine what it must have taken Chris to have asked that of a stranger. This woman said "sure" and Chris gives her a description.... Blonde hair, blue eyes, this tall, wearing this.... and so this stranger goes in to check on Amanda. She's gone a little bit longer than Chris would have expected. Surely this means she can't find her? Maybe she's really gone? All thoughts racing through his mind! She finally emerges and quietly explains that our little girl had an 'accident' and needed a change of clothes. If he could provide her with a change of clothes, this woman, a stranger, would be happy to get her cleaned up and changed into clean clothes. I'm sure he was filled with relief... and then a sudden swell of panic. Change of clothes? The clothes... are all with checked baggage.

He knows he needs to do something... so he goes to ask about the luggage. They tell him that it's been checked and he can go back there and search through it himself. Well, he can't do it with the baby in his arms! What to do now? He makes the decision he is terrified might come back and haunt him.... already missing one beautiful child.... he asks this woman... this stranger... "will you hold my son while I check luggage". She agrees. He finds the luggage, gets a change of clothes, and this woman... whom he'd later come to know of his first Angel.... takes care of our daughter, putting the soiled clothes in a baggie and getting her cleaned up and changed.

They then continue on with the waiting. I can only imagine how uncomfortable it was for the three of them. Finally he sees people lining up for what he'd assume was the 9 pm bus to Tampa. Exhausted, infant still sleeping in his arms, daughter laying in his lap, diaper bag still over his shoulder, he is still sitting while everyone else is lined up. He asks a worker there if this was the 9 pm bus to Tampa, and he said "yes".... however, when they checked his ticket, he said - "your ticket was for the 2 pm bus to Tampa, not this one... you can't get on this bus." WHATTTTT?? Knowing Chris... I'm assuming that he would have been furious... but probably too exhausted to really show it. He explained how there really was NO 2 pm bus to Tampa, it was a mis-print or something. He explains how he's been here all day waiting for the bus... with the baby and our little girl.

This worker... who Chris would later come to know as his second Angel of the day... looked at Chris.... looked at the line.... the line Chris was not in.... and told him to 'come with me'. He put Chris, Amanda and Jonathan on the bus before everyone else. It was shortly thereafter that he realized that there were too many people in line already and not enough seats on the bus. Anyone waiting beyond a certain point could not board. Had he have waited at the end of the line, ticket or no ticket, he'd not have been able to get on the bus - he'd have had to wait for the next one. Yes... his Angel who looked at the line first before moving him to the front of the line, surely must have known that.

So he's finally ON the bus headed to Tampa. It's late... dark.... he's exhausted and wants nothing more than to close his eyes and sleep for the entire trip. The kids are asleep. The bus pulls away from the depot and all the lights go out in the bus.

All the lights... except one.

Yep.... the one light just over his head... the bright little reading light... broken! Shining in his face. Chris, who many know as the 'can-fix-anything-guy' can't get this light to go off. He futzes with it for a while and it just won't go off.

He's soooooo tired. Mentally and physically. He looks up to the sky... exasporated... and says "Please Lord, Please....." and with that, the light just went off. That unknown, unseen person watching over him at that time, Chris would later come to know as his third Angel of the day.

Needless to say... we now believe in Angels.