she is proud of us

My 3 year old nephew, Gavin - although naturally self-absorbed at times - seems to have connections with the cherubim network.

Besides his glowing, sweet face, huge blue eyes, and a smile that might melt the already-melted, he has also always had a knowledge of "where the angels are".

when gavin was a very young infant, my mom held him in her arms at my sister's house, walking around all the rooms and reveling in the bond between grandmother and grandchild. to her, there was almost nothing more sacred, except perhaps motherhood. anyway, one time, mom asked gavin "where are the angels?"; and gavin - at 6 months old or less - pointed to the corner of the living room, upward toward the cieling and sky. shelly had a shelving unit standing in that corner, which held on its rungs mementos and heirlooms from her family's past. from the ceiling hung a set of wind chimes, which shelly swore used to blow once in a while without the push of any noticeable wind.

tonight, shelly, the boys and i were sitting around in front of the t.v. gavin - now 3 and 1/2 - sat next to me on one side, aidan on the other. gavin turned to me randomly, looked me in the eyes, smiled like some heavenly messenger, and said "I AM SO PROUD OF YOU".

a few minutes later, during an unrelated portion of the evening, gavin was crawling around on shelly and the chair she was lounging in, babbling to himself about being peter parker and turning into the hulk, when shelly said, "gavin, where are the angels?" gavin stopped what he was doing, and without hesitation and in all the seriousness a three year old can muster, he pointed toward the front room, which is nearly empty of furniture or decoration. when asked what color the angels were, gavin answered "white"...with brown, black, and pink hair. when asked what they were doing, gavin replied "they're in the room, and they're walking around us".

then he turned to shelly, again completely un-prompted by any visible or obvious source, and said, "i'm so proud of you, mom".

shelly and i looked at each other, and shared an amazed "knowing" in the space between our eyes. the so-called "empty" space, we were now convinced, was filled with our mom's loving presence. she always told us how proud she was of her "three beautiful daughters".

really...when was the last time a three year old, in the middle of a monologue from a comic book story, stopped to tell you how proud he was of you?

and through his eyes, came her love; through her love still comes the gentle, guiding light of the band of angels to which mom is now a full-time member.