Aunt Peg and I were very close, ever since I was a small child. She and mom had lost their older sister when they were very young, so Aunt Peggy was the only aunt I had.

Mom and Dad had both passed away when I was eighteen years old. It was a tremendous heart ache losing them both in the same year. Aunt Peg became like a second mother to me. Her son Bill and I became as close as brother and sister.

The first Christmas after mom passed away, Aunt Peg gave me a beautiful gold angel on a gold chain. "Any time I'm not around honey, just touch or hold this angel for a second or two, and know that I am always here for you", she said as she placed it around my neck. I relied on my golden caretaker through many a rough ride in my life. True to her word Aunt Peg was always there for me. She would seem to know when I was in need of a loving voice filled with kind words of encouragement. My little angel was also always there for me, and I was never without her. I loved angels and although I had many other angel jewelry the one my aunt gave me was my most treasured possession.

For years Aunt Peg and my little gold angel were the two I most relied on. When I went on vacation each year I would always take all my jewery over to Aunt Peg for safekeeping while I was away. This year just as I was boarding the plane for my yearly vacation, I reached up to touch my angel, needing reassurance, since flying always made me fearful. I became very upset when I felt nothing around my neck. Well I must have packed it up in the case that I carried over to Aunt Pegs.

Returning two weeks later, I picked up my case anxious to retrieve my angel and slip it around my neck. The angel was not in the case. It seemed to have just disappeared. I searched the house from top to bottom with no luck. I was really heartbroken over its loss. It had helped me through many emotional upsets, a failed marriage being one of the most traumatic. I called up Aunt Peg and pleaded, "Please say a prayer that I find my precious angel. "I will honey, You'll find it, just you wait and see" she assured me.

Months had gone by and I had lost all hope of ever finding it. I must have lost it somewhere outside, and if that were the case, It would be lost forever. I prayed my little angel would watch over and protect who ever found it. if they love it as I did.

Christmas was just weeks away, when Aunt Peg took very ill. She was taken taken to the hospital and put into the intensive care unit. Cousin Bill and I sat by her side every chance we got. I would run over right after work and spend a few precious hours with her.

One evening I was going to surprise her by wearing a sweater she had so lovingly knitted for my birthday a few years back. After work I rushed home to change into the sweater. I went to the storage closet where I had placed it on a shelf with sweaters that I only wore on special occasions. As I pulled out the sweater, a small box came out with the sweater and fell to the floor. My chain with the GOLD ANGEL slid out and GLEAMED and SPARKLED on the carpet. I was encircled in an AURA of BLINDING LIGHT. As I picked it up and held it a feeling of both extreme SADNESS and SERENITY filled my heart and soul. I wanted to sit and cry, but for no reason that I could fathom.

I saw Bill just as I pulled into the hospital parking lot, his face was streaked with tears. "She's gone Carol", as he went to hold me in his arms he saw the angel sparkling on my sweater. He smiled and said, " She tried to wait till she could say her good-byes to you, I see she did in her own way.