Angels

Some moments are just too extraordinary for words.

I was in a wicked travel schedule: from home (Sacramento County) to work (San Joaquin County) to Palo Alto (Stanford hospital) and back home every day. My dad had gone in for a pretty serious operation and had experienced a general system failure, was in the hospital for weeks on all sorts of machines.

Some days, it's as if the car drove itself there. Life became a blur of gas stations and freeways. I had my favorite stations where I'd always stop, the most convenient ones along the route. It seemed that 'jet fuel' (coffee) was the only way I was functioning at this point, so I always headed inside for a cup.

This one particular day my regular station in Tracy had yellow caution around all the pumps and appeared closed, so I headed down a mile and stopped somewhere new. I started the pump and went inside. An elderly woman stood beside me pouring herself a cup. I greeted her quietly and busied myself with filling my cup, hunting for cream, adding a sugar substitute, when I heard her quietly turn to me and ask, "Who in your family is sick?"

I stopped cold. I turned to her fully now, looking down at her round and beautiful face. She had dyed dark brown hair, curly and thin, was about 4' 11", with the most kind brown eyes. "My father," I replied, barely able to speak as my eyes brimmed with tears. "He is gravely ill."

She studied me for a moment and asked, "What is your father's name?" Tears now spilled down my cheeks as I said, "Charles." I choked it out, as she gave me a tender embrace.

We stood together in the check out line, our coffee cups in hand, and she turned to me one last time as she gave her money to the clerk. "I needed your father's name so I can pray for him." I felt a rush of relief as she gave me one more sweet hug before heading into her day.

I paid for my coffee, thinking I should have asked her name. I rushed outside to see if I could catch her, but she was gone. How did she know, I wondered. I thought of how unlikely it was that our paths crossed.

I hopped in the car and got back on the road but before leaving town decided to drive past the gas station I normally use. There was no caution tape anywhere. Cars filled the pumps just like any other time I've been there, nothing like it had been 15 minutes before.

A chill snaked up my arms. Angels are everywhere.