Years ago, I owned Anne’s House of Angels in Pennsylvania. It featured gifts from the heart
for anyone and everyone. My very first customer was a young woman named Maria.
She wanted to buy a very special night light for a nursery. It had to be the perfect one and
it had speak to her. She described a beautiful nursery with a pale yellow crib, a quilt of
baby animals, matching sheets and a mobile of baby tigers and lions. I asked how old her
baby was and her eyes filled with tears. “He’s been in Heaven for a month now.” My heart
sank. I hugged her tight, as she melted in my arms. I cried.
“I need a special nightlight to keep a light on for him,” she sobbed. The baby died of
sudden death syndrome in his bassinet. He never got to sleep in his beautiful crib.
I can’t imagine that pain. My brain just can’t compute that depth of sadness.
She sat in a rocking chair and she sipped tea as we chatted. He was a healthy
little boy. He had ten fingers and ten toes, and he even smiled at her.
Everything was perfect until that horrible day.
About a month later, a sale rep stopped by to sell me the latest angels on the market.
I looked through the catalogs, but nothing struck me. He was closing up his briefcase
when he said, “Oh here’s one last thing you might like.” It as a painting of The Gift.
The photo above was captured by a grandmother.
Her grandchild had died and she was in complete despair. She walked along the beach
sobbing and praying for an answer. Why did this happen? How could this happen?
There were no answers. She continued to walk through surf. As she gazed up at the sky,
a cloud formation had formed. It was an angel holding a baby stretching out his arms.
She clicked the photo in disbelief. Surely she was hallucinating. She stood still in the surf
until the cloud formation dissipated. She was so inspired she started having the photo
duplicated to help others grieving the loss of a baby. I begged the rep to sell me his
sample photo immediately. When I told him about Maria, he gave it to me.
I called Maria to tell her, “I have a very special gift for you.” She arrived at the store in less
than half an hour. This time she brought a photo of her son. Looking at his sweet little
face broke my heart. I handed her The Gift. I grabbed a box of tissues for both of us.
Tears fell as she hugged the angel in a cloud. .
“It’s like my son sent me sign that he’s with the angels,” she cried.
That was one of the most emotional days I’ve ever experienced at the store; and
there were many of those days. Maybe because it was a baby and my first time feeling such
deep grief. I’m not sure. I’ll never forget that day.
The following year, Maria arrived at the store again. This time she carried her newly adopted
baby boy. She plopped the happy little guy on my counter. I whispered, “Well aren’t you the
sweetest little guy ever? He was busy playing with my credit card machine.”
Maria responded, “His big brother in Heaven thinks so too.”
This time we both cried happy tears.
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