My Guardian Angel Mother...

God puts people in our path for a reason...sometimes for empathy, sometimes for hope, sometimes for love, and sometimes to remind us to be grateful.


I have had the privilege of meeting someone that I truly believe  is my Guardian Angel Mother (like my mom calls her) .

My secretary, Mrs. Edwards, is a special lady and I honestly do not know how I would deal with my job, our journey to become parents, or my life, without her guidance, love, and advice.

I recently received this email that another teacher in our district wrote about my secretary and thought it was a great example of how special Mrs. Edwards truly is...

I wanted to write you a note about one of your employees, Judy Edwards. I had the opportunity to meet Mrs. Edwards Tuesday afternoon. I was parked across from her home, and some students were unloading some items from my car into a home across from hers and they broke a glass that fell from my car. She immediately came over and offered me a trash bag to store the broken glass in.


As I went back over to thank her and introduced myself, I explained my purpose for being in her neighborhood. One of our graduating seniors, Jeffrey Williams, lost his mother suddenly a week ago Saturday. I explained the situation to Mrs. Edwards, and she expressed immediate concern for Jeffrey, whom she met before, but the families were not close. This is not a situation where neighbors exchange recipes, as Jeffrey's mom was standoffish and frequently gone.

At any rate, we exchanged information, phone numbers and email, and I asked her to keep an eye out for Jeffrey until after graduation when further future arrangements could be sorted out.

Her first concern, once she was satisfied about his well-being, was about his graduation. I explained that my principal had immediately taken care of the details on our end, providing a cap and gown and other essentials. Mrs. Edwards asked if anyone was doing anything else for him. As our school is a tight-knit school, he has some friends and teachers looking out for him during this difficult time, but his extended biological family is not organizing a graduation celebration, and it is unknown if they will even attend.


Mrs. Edwards went into her kitchen and retrieved a graduation card she had set aside, hoping to use it for the right individual. She put cash in it, and walked with me back across the street to personally deliver her condolences and her gift.


It is the only graduation gift of a formal nature this young man received. It was thoughtful, genuine, and she was warm beyond measure, explaining to Jeffrey not to hesitate to call on her at any hour. His warm hug in surprise and thankfulness was touching and a real moment of human connectivity.


We expect teachers and staff at our own home schools to look out for our kids, and we do a great job of it. But for a woman who was virtually a stranger to Jeffrey to step up, and go above and beyond in his moment of need, and deliver that gesture with extraordinary kindness and sincerity, was worth writing you about.

This letter just confirmed what I already knew...Mrs. Edwards is such a wonderful person and friend.

We were together this weekend for a surprise party for one of our co-workers and in conversation she mentioned to me that she had picked up dinner for family and realized that she had a lot left over. Without hesitation, she picked up the phone and called Jeffery to see if he would like dinner and brought it over to him.

I am so blessed and thankful that God placed this special woman in my life. Although I am MILES away from my own mom, Mrs. Edwards is definitely my Guardian Angel Mother...and I don't mind sharing her with Jeffery too.