It was supposed to be a trip of a lifetime. Part my daughter's birthday present, part her senior trip. But mostly the trip was meant to temporarily put some joy back in our lives since my husband's unexpected passing just a few months prior.
We were no strangers to Disney. Two years ago we visited there, despite the fact that my daughter had broken her ankle four weeks before our departure.
Three years before that we took a trip there also, even though I had fallen and tore my ACL eight weeks before we were supposed to leave. I simply purchased a wheelchair and went about our vacation as if nothing was wrong.
This time I wanted the trip to be perfect. My daughter and I pinkie swore that neither of us would get hurt before we left, and to that aspect we held
true. It was four days into our trip that our promise was accidentally broken. I fell trying to enter the pool. Pop went my knee, and for the next few hours
we spent hanging out in the emergency room instead of the theme park. I left with a knee brace and crutches. Not very fair I thought, since my daughter left Florida with a tee shirt.
In the days following the accident my grief and depression increased. Ifelt I had deserved it, and my getting injured was my husbands way of telling
me I shouldn't have gone on vacation so soon after he had passed. Who was going to take care of us now? This grieving widow and her teenage daughter with special needs. Dan had always been our rock. Taking his vows of in sickness and
health seriously. He never faltered in caring for us when we needed him the most.
A few days after we returned home I drove by a festival that my town was having. One of the vendors on the corner caught my eye, along with a parking space close enough where I could hobble to get to them. I got my crutches out of the car, and slowly made my way to the booth. As I did, two women made a bee line for me. They started talking as if they knew me, and my brain started to scramble to recognize them. Then they introduced themselves and asked if they could pray for my healing. Having nothing to loose, I obliged. They both took my hand and the one woman who had started the conversation attempted to begin
the prayer, but got chocked up and stopped. The other woman instantly stepped in and prayed for my health. Then they simply walked away.
The next day I had some errands to run. As I was going about my business, I noticed something was different. My knee no longer resembled a basketball, but was in perfect symmetry of the other. And suddenly I had the strength to get around without the aid of my crutches. Not perfectly, or even at a normal speed, but I could walk on my own two feet, as long as my knee brace was still on.
I was so excited about my sudden improvement, then my mind flashed back to the day before. Those two ladies who prayed for me...could it be that somehow my husband sent them to me? Or perhaps he himself had taken a human form and came himself, and that is why the one who started the prayer was so chocked up they couldn't finish. Had I just been blessed by an angel? I may never know for sure, but as I walk around looking at the clouds in the sky, I do know that my husband wasn't punishing me for trying to get some normalcy in my life. He is, however, always there to protect me. Even from beyond.
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