“Will you lay in bed with me?”

          As I tuck in the five-year-old girl that I babysit, I read her two books. After those two books are read, I am always asked the same question. 

          I know it is not because she’s afraid of the dark because she has a very bright night light that wards away any monster that could appear from the shadows of her room. It is simply for comfort, to know she is not alone when she falls asleep, to feel an act of love. 

          Guardian angels are real and I know this because I was once that little five-year-old girl begging her dad to tell one more story, to sing one last song before she was left alone in her dark periwinkle-walled room. I was once that little girl whose best friend was a pastel, raggedy, worn thin blanket that seemed to catch all her tears and took away all the sad the instant that plush blanket touched her cheek. The smell of her mother’s love and everything warm and sugary was provided by that blanket alone. Soon that blanket turned into a black, scared out of its mind, baby soft fur cat. 

          You might be asking, “What does this have to do with guardian angels?”

          Well, all of those things were my guardian angels coming to me through physical objects. My dad telling stories about magic cupcake man and singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star over and over and over again just to soothe me to sleep. The plush blanket gave me comfort during those nights where I really did think there was a monster living in my closet, or even my fat, scratchy-voiced cat coming into my room and laying next to me when life seemed to be in the gutters. 

          All of those things God put in my life to show me that I do have my very own, guardian angel watching over me day and night and telling me that I am anything but alone.

          Around my neck I wear a thin silver chain dipped in gold. On that chain hangs a silver metal that has been dipped in gold with the simple image of an angle engraved on it. That metal sits around my neck all day and all night as a reminder that I have angels watching over me. When I find myself unable to sleep, the first thing I turn to is the guardian angel prayer. With those words on repeat in my head, it soothes me to sleep, just like a lullaby soothes a crying baby in the night. 

          Some might argue that if guardian angels were real, why do some people end up dead when their time wasn’t up?  Why do some people turn to drugs? Why do some people end up in jail? 

          The answer to these questions is simple: the angels are there from the moment of birth to the moment of death, but you have to let them in. You have to be able to fight the demons life brings your way and understand that you’re not alone in your battle and your angels are fighting right alongside you. You have to know that sometimes they won’t show up as physical objects but if you get the gut feeling telling you not to do something, that’s your guardian angel tapping you on the shoulder trying to help you with your decision making. 

          Times get hard and you might feel so alone, but just remember that you do have angels.