colorful spools, Canon Digital Rebel
Reading Donovan’s story (see comments in last entry) made me think of an amazing story I hadn’t thought of in a while.
My friends and I were driving to Nevada for the infamous Burning Man festival in the Black Rock desert. The car was filled to the gills with 40 gallons of water, costumes, camping gear and 3 bicycles precariously dangling from a bike rack on the back.
I was afraid we weren’t going to make it. Our stuff was so heavy that the entire car was lowered and tires appeared flat. Hmm… “Fuck it. Let’s go!” we said, anxious to get on the road.
About 45 minutes outside the city, my stomach wrapped in knots. Since I am prone to over-worry, I tried to tell myself everything was going to be okay, but I couldn’t get it out of my head that we were going to kill someone with our bikes or blow out a tire and kill ourselves. I made the unpopular suggestion that we throw the bikes away along with half of our water.
Instead, we stopped at a strip mall parking lot and tried to rebuild the rack that had lowered and loosened considerably since we started our journey. I felt sick to my stomach. No one else was as worried as I was, and nobody liked the idea of tossing our bikes.
I stepped into the car, sat down and closed my eyes. I had just read somewhere that if you need help from angels, all you have to do is invite them in. So I invited angels to help us and to keep us safe.
About 10 minutes later, a guy walked up out of nowhere and said enthusiastically, “I know where you’re going. Burning Man!” He was going the following day and I immediately asked, “Do you have any extra room?” Without skipping a beat, he said, “Yeah sure. I have an empty truck.” Not only did he have a huge empty truck, but he had it in the parking lot at that moment.
We loaded up his truck with 3 bicycles and 24 gallons of water and gave him his official Burning Man name, Angel boy.
He arrived the next day at our camp and said, “Anyone waiting for some bikes around here?”
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When I was a three years old we lived in a small house in downtown Phoenix. On the next street over a large multi story building was going up and the shadow came into my room at night. This shadow scared me a lot and it was really hard to sleep. My dad used to tell me to pray and ask God to help me sleep. So one night, I did and I remember feeling like I was so tired but afraid to sleep. I looked up at the window where the shadow usually came from because for some reason it wasn’t there. Siting on my window was an image of a small child. It had a face and I felt like it was watching me. I remember smiling at it and then sleeping. I slept every night after that.
About three years ago I was at a weekend seminar and a women who I had never met told me she knew I saw an Angel sitting in my window when I was little and that I thought it wasn’t real. She told me she just wanted me to know it was real and that God had sent it to me so I could sleep. I was so blown away! I had never told anyone about this. This woman I had never met knew the details about this expreience.
I’ve believed in Angels every since.
How beautiful! Do you still go to burning man? I love your site! We camp with campalicious… (near 3:00/bipolar and near Happy Camp)
http://graceopenheart.blogspot.com/2005/07/campalicious-peeps.html
Would love to know where you camp!
Helen
I love, love, LOVE stories like that one!
My turn! My good friend and I went to see a Dodgers game. When we came back to my car after the game, I had a flat tire. We were two girls that had no idea how to change a tire. This was about 12 years ago — before everyone had cell phones. A man in a creepy van came up to us and offered to help. Inside the van, we saw his wife and children which made us feel better about his offer. He put the spare doughnut tire on for us. We got on the freeway in the slow lane and about half way home the tire blew because I had driven too fast on the spare. We exited the freeway where a tire store happened to be adjacent to the exit. We called my Dad from a pay phone and waited by the car. A few minutes later, the very same van pulled up and the man asked if we needed help. I told him my Dad was on his way and he then handed me his business card “just in case.” It was for some kind of auto repair place. There was no address and I attempted to track him down to say thank you. I never did find him. I sincerely believe he was an angel.
Wow! it gives me chills to read all the stories – doesn’t it make you realize that there are forces larger than us out there? I guess we need to keep our eyes and our hearts open to accept these incredible experiences. Very cool, indeed.
goosebumps! Gotta love angel stories…absolutely.
When I was 18 I experienced my first, and utterly wrenching, heartbreak. I developed a case of ennui, felt like all my social interactions exacted too much energy, put pressure on myself to be someone I was not, changed my academic goals to what I thought were more pragmatic goals, and struggled with body issues as my body rebelled against me and threw up anything I put in it.
It was a really tough time, and I could find no solace. Not in friends, not in English class, not in books, not in my family, not in art, not in buddhist meditation.
It was at this time, the least social period of my life, that I befriended a very special guy from Thailand. He was constantly smiling the most genuine, warm smile. He was always looking for new things in appreciate in life and in people. He was adventurous and as down to earth as they come. He was tall, dark and gorgeous with shiny black hair and perfect ivory teeth. He was magnetic.
We spent several months together before he had to return to Thailand. We never kissed, I never even knew if he was straight. We never talked about my problems, not because we couldn’t, but because when I was in his presence, I was able to experience life from his perspective, to live in the moment. And the moments with him were divinely joyous.
After he returned to Thailand, he got a small part in a soap opera as “Handsome Young Man.” We wrote each other for a while, and then the letters stopped. I have tried to find him, to no avail. He once told me that as a child, he had been “a little Buddha.” I have always regarded him as an angel who saved me from myself when I needed him most.
hey God is good (all the time) I’m glad you prayers were answered!
I was led to your entry about grief last july(?) by kim(illuminations). While this has nothing to do with your current entry, I wanted to make sure you saw my comment. Thank you. I lost my son at 22 weeks of preg in Sept 2003. I suffered from severe preeclampsia and the drs were watching for seizures or a stroke. I had more closure than some, since I had burial and a place to go visit. But I have struggled since then with grief and trying to recover. We are just now trying for another baby and I’m scared to death. I have a 60-65% chance of developing it again. Hopefully, everything will go well this time. Anyway, I just wanted to share my story with you and thank you for sharing yours. I’m so sorry for your loss.
Hey Andrea,
I have recieved much inspiration and joy from your writings and photos since I stumbled into your journal last year. Rare beauty and passion of love and spirit is captured and shared and like the sun’s rays the energy diffuses into the world to bring warmth and growth far beyond your reach. I’m in need of an angel tonight. In my religious tradition, our wisdom tells us this:
“now hope that is seen is not hope. for who hopes for what is seen? but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it in patience.”
So tonight I hold hope in my heart that an angel will come by my side to keep me company on this long journey. Thanks for sharing your story with us.
Oh, wow. Great story. And I love the spool pictures (they remind me of my mother).
I know that other people have posted about encounters with strangers who are angels but I feel that I live in a family full of angels. My mom, stepfather, grandmother and one of my aunts are such amazing people. I truly feel blessed to know them and be the lucky recipient of their love. The older I get and the more I learn about other people’s families, the more fortunate I feel to have grown up in my family. I feel like I’m bragging, which is not my intent. I just want to express my gratitude to the universe for this gift I was given. I also want to remind people of how much their love matters in the lives of the people around them. All your little kindnesses, the times you have been a shoulder to cry on, the times you have made someone laugh hysterically, the times you have just listened have all enabled someone to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Life is difficult but we can all be angels to someone and help them grow from the challenges life throws their way. Andrea, you too are an angel in my life, though I have never met you. Your website provides me with so much solace and soulfood. Without even knowing it, you have given me strength to keep going on days when I have wanted to just curl up under a blanket and hide. Thank you for your photos and words.
I must admit that I, too, am prone to worry, but one thing that I’m sort of coming to grips with is the idea that worry is what you do when you don’t know what to do (if that makes sense). I mean, if there is something to worry about, then you haven’t figured out a plan to fix it or deal with it.
I do agree with Piper’s comments below about realizing how important your love is in the lives of other people. It’s funny that comment should come up now – I mean, I have really begun to notice that in my own life in the 2 or 3 months. I wish I could have noticed this 10 years ago in my twenties, but hey, better late than never!
Thank you for sharing this story 🙂 I love when people experience these sorts of things. I have always believed in angels and i often ask for them to come in or to protect me. But there is a time recently that i have never felt so sure that the angels had heard me.
I was lost one night in an area of town i wasn’t familar with. I had got seperated from my friends, an i was sp lost i couldn’t even tell anyone where i was to come and get me. I was overwhelmed with fear and i was sobbing. I just kept asking of the angels help – for them to please protect me and help me find my way. And as i am walking – out of what seemed like no where, came this man walking toward me walking his dog. Intially was scared that it was 2 in the morning, im lost and here comes a strange guy. He came up to me and i was talking to my dad at the time trying to tell him where i was and the man asked if he could help. He asked for my phone and i handed it to him with a little hesitation but his words were so kind and so clear. He gave my dad directions and waited with me until my dad came. As we stood waiting i was still scared and so i just starred at the ground and the dog came up to me and looked up with her big blue beautiful eyes and the man said; her name is angel.
When my dad pulled up the guy had gone and i realized- i never saw where he went – nor did I ever look at his face. Was he there- how can i thank him? I felt so blessed and protected when I had been soo scared.
Thanks for letting me share my experience with you.
danie
I am very spiritual, daily and frequently praying and meditating about someone or something…always smiling at the quick response to so many of my requests…very aware of the bigger powers that be. Know they are just waiting for me to ask for help….but I often forget to ask for help myself. for me. and your post somehow reminded me that I need to ask for help more, when I am in need. Love your story about Angel Boy. It reminds us too, how we should trust more. Handing over your bikes to a stranger might sound crazy to some…but it’s in those leaps of faith, that we re-build trust that has been lost over time, mostly out of fear. Thanks for the thoughts…
I need an angel like that, y’all. My boyfriend is up in NYC right now trying to find us a place. I have cried myself dry today out of frustration with the lack of funds and the ruthlessness of brokers. It has been a tough day for both of us and what makes it worse is the 1800 mile distance. We both were in tears today. So I am inviting the angels to help us and any prayers or mantras anyone can spare…we need them today.
hi, I really like how you have this online picture journal. And I was wondering if you can tell me how to make one just like this.