Welcome, Kate

It was late summer of 2001, and Eileen C’s adult daughter Kate was dying of cancer.  She was very weak from her chemo treatments, and the family knew that her time to say goodbye was growing near.  Like the others, Eileen was broken hearted.  It seemed impossible that she would ever recover from the loss of Kate.  Our children are not supposed to go to heaven before we do...   

One day Kate’s eight-year-old son Johnny was given permission to use the family’s Instamatic camera.  “He had never taken any pictures with a camera,” Eileen says. “But he was a fast study and felt he could venture outside on his own to shoot the perfect picture.” 

Johnny was too excited to wait until family members came out into the yard to formally pose.  Instead, he ran around, clicking on a tree here, a plant or bush there, shooting whatever struck his fancy.  At one point he focused in on the garden his mother had planted and tended during her twelve years of marriage.  The last photo was of their side yard, near the neighbor’s house.  “Grandma, I’m finished!” he called to Eileen.  “Come and see!”

Eileen was still in the house, sitting at Kate’s side, but she came into the kitchen to watch as Johnny’s photos developed.  And as the pictures emerged, they could hardly believe what they were seeing.

“Lo and behold, there were pictures of angels!” Eileen says.  “They were in every shot, at least ten photos.  Johnny saw them right away too---I didn’t have to point them out to him.”

One angel had a trumpet held high, as is often seen in Christmas paintings.  As if the angel was announcing Kate’s return to the Lord, Eileen realized.  Other angels seemed to be posted at the front of the house, guarding it from all danger.  There were angels in Kate’s garden, and others surrounding the side yard, a silent yet serene barrier between this house and the rest. “Mom, look!”  Johnny was so surprised and joyful that he ran to Kate’s bedside, and gave the pictures to her.

Quietly Kate looked at each photo, and then began to cry.  Eileen was distressed.  Had the angels frightened Kate?

But no.  “I feel as if they have been posted here, waiting to take me to heaven,” Kate said.  Her daughter was sad, Eileen understood, but she was not afraid.  Throughout these coming difficult days, Kate would keep the angel presence stored in her heart.

Kate died soon afterward, but Johnny continues to keep the photos safe, and cherishes them not only as a little miracle, but as a sign that his mother is still near, that the distance from earth to heaven is only a heartbeat away.  “There are angels among us,” Eileen says. “We know we will see our daughter again.”

(C)  2004 Joan Wester Anderson www.joanwanderson.com