Dear Reader:

While watching a cooking show recently, I noticed a whimsical guardian angel kitchen spoon holder that took me back in time to mother’s kitchen in the duplex in Fayetteville.

I remember asking mother about our kitchen guardian angel spoon holder, when I was little, and she told me guardian angels were all around us to protect us … and they also protected special rooms too… like the kitchen and watched over preparations of meals.

Sounded good to me and I immediately ran out to play and never gave that conversation another thought until… one afternoon, after school, my brothers and I came home from school, ate our snacks and went out to play… until mother called us in for supper. Just an ordinary day.

Looking back on it… this time , in our daily schedule, afforded mother a couple of precious hours to rest from work and start supper-that afternoon she was putting in a left-over casserole from Sunday dinner… the day before.

Tired… mother fell asleep on the sofa in the den. As the sun slowly started setting… it finally dawned on us that we were the last kids in the neighborhood to be called in for supper. It was strange but we were secretly happy -we had more time to play.

Suddenly the back door slammed open and mother called for Ben to come help her… drifts of smoke were circling outside. Mother gave Ben two potholders and she grabbed the other end of casserole dish and dumped the charred meal, pan and all, in the sand box so the grass wouldn’t catch on fire.

We had to raise all the windows and put fans in the kitchen and den to get rid of the smoke. While standing on a chair surveying the smoke I noticed our kitchen angel and pointed her out to mother.

” I thought our guardian angel was supposed to guard the kitchen and our meals?”

A small smile flickered across mother’s face as she replied to all of us… ” I reckon guardian angels, like mothers, get tired sometimes and need a nap too.”

” Okay… go wash up and jump in the car. We are going to McDonalds for supper to give the house time to air out!”

McDonalds! McDonalds! Mother might as well have told us Santa Claus was coming to town! It turned out to be an unforgettable meal and somehow I think our kitchen angel was winking as we left!

So until tomorrow… I still believe in angels-all kinds-what a spiritual gift they are… offering up the lines of celestial communication between us and our Creator.

Today is my favorite day -Winnie the Pooh