My Angell

My Angell

Today has been one of the shittiest days of my life! I just feel like the universe is chipping away at my hardened soul with one bad judgment after another. Finding out that my estranged mother passed without the opportunity for any type of closure has been weighing heavily on my mind. As I walk the streets of my town, I hear her voice echoing in my head,” God puts people in our lives as a gift Paula!”

Gift, I mumbled to myself as my face hit the pavement. Shoelaces are the worst invention in the history of man! As I sat there on the cold ground tying my wore out tennis shoes, I noticed something black buried under the snow. It looked like a Moleskine notebook. I recognized it because it looked like one of the water colour notebooks from their Art collection line.

I opened the book up, it was completely empty except for one entry: 2211 Grandview way. I knew where Grandview way was because I used to live in an apartment close by. My first thought was to just throw the book back down. Really, who cares? I decided to do the right thing and take it to the address. My mom would have! She always said,” do what is right without expectation of gratitude or reward”. Maybe they would know who it belonged to.

2211 Grandview way was a neglected small house with black trim. Above the door was a wood sign that said Angell. My hand was shaking as I knocked on the door. A small frail man opened the door and did not speak a word. He looked at me with his angelic blue eyes. I felt like he was looking straight into my soul. I explained the black book to him and that his address was the only one in it. He said he knew nothing about it. As I turned around to leave, he asked if I would share a cup of coffee with him. He said his granddaughter just made some cookies.

I spent about 2 hours that day with Roger Angell. We learned a lot about each other. Roger was born in 1920 and was a prisoner of war. I really had not given much thought to the sacrifices that others had made for me until that day. In fact, I realized just how selfish of a person I had become. Roger Angell was a hero….my hero. As I left his home that day, I could not help but feel so blessed that I met Roger. Just thinking about his life and what he had gone through had left tears in my eyes!

About 2 months had passed, when I heard a knock on my door. Standing there was a very tall and beautiful woman with gorgeous black hair. She said her name was Tiffany Angell. She came to tell me that her grandfather had passed. As tears streamed down my face, I knew exactly who she was talking about.

She told me that Grandpa Angell could not stop talking about the day that we spent together and wanted to give me something. I know she could see the shocked look on my face as she handed me a check for $20,000.00. “What is this was for?” I asked. She said,” life works in mysterious ways…. trust it. That little black book brought you to my grandpa. He knew what he needed to do! Grandpa said that your mother and you always talked about going to Hawaii. It is his wish for you to go, so you can get closure with your mom.”

I still have that Moleskine black notebook and the fond memories of “My Angell! I will never forget the day that it led me to the closure I needed with my mom.