Angels and Nuns

Sister Julie: Have you ever experienced or heard an angel and nun story?

Joan: Julie, you asked if I know any angel stories about nuns? When I was still in the bewildered stage, looking for stories but not quite sure what I was going to do with them, my mother told me about a sister she had met while volunteering at a nearby hospital. Mom had told Sister Mary Dolores Kazmierczak about my quest and Sister got one of those knowing looks on her face. The upshot was, Sister gave me the first REAL story I felt I could include, and to this day she is on my angel story mailing list (sign up at www.joanwanderson.com pretty sneaky huh?) and a firm angel fan:

Sister loved traveling, and had planned a trip to Italy and Poland with a few friends, and her elderly parents. Unexpectedly a few months before departure, her mother died and her father developed a form of shakiness. Sister was worried that he wouldn’t be able to handle the physical challenges on the trip, and what if he injured himself in a foreign country? She prayed for guidance but no answer seemed to come. Reluctantly, Sister decided to leave Dad at home. He was hurt but understanding. Sister felt terrible.

A few days before bon voyage, Sister and her dad visited her mother’s grave. On the way home, they saw a fruit stand ahead, and turned in to pick up some produce. There were two Mexican men working there, and no other customers. One of the men, wearing a blue shirt, was manning the cash register. The other, in a brown hat, was arranging displays. Mr. Kazmierczak wandered around; Sister kept an eye on him in case he fell. No one spoke, and eventually Sister went to the man at the cash register, rang up her purchases and walked toward her father. Just then the man in the brown hat approached her. “That trip you’re going on?” he said to Sister. “I just spoke with your mother. She says it’s okay to take your father along. Nothing bad will happen to him.”

Sister was astonished. “My mother is dead,” she told him.

“Yes.” He nodded. “I know.”

Sister’s reaction was to Get Out Of There right away. Quickly she got her dad in the car and off they went. Then it occurred to her. Had her father been talking to the man in the brown hat, complaining about being left behind? Why would he tell a perfect stranger? And yet she hadn’t heard any conversations at the fruitstand. She asked her dad if he had spoken to either of the men. “There was just one man there,” her father answered. “The one at the cash register. I didn’t talk to him.”

“I’m talking about the other man, the one in the brown hat. You were right there. You must have seen him.”

Her father looked confused. “But I didn’t. There wasn’t anyone else there.”

Sister stopped. She was starting to get a funny little feeling. Hadn’t she asked for an answer?

During subsequent summers, Sister took her father on several trips. He never had a mishap and thrived on the changes of scene. Sister never worried about him after the episode at the fruit stand. She new her mom was watching over both of them.