My first grandson was born in September more than 40 years ago while my daughter, Michelle, his mom, was stationed with the Marine Corps in Japan. Since we were unable to meet him until she could come home several months later, I wrote a legend about how we could share his first Christmas together, we could always be able to be together in prayer and memory.
That started my tradition of writing a legend every Christmas, and creating a tree ornament to go along with the legend.
When former Mayor Helen Marchetti, a dear friend for decades, became my landlady when I moved to Atlantic Highlands, I began writing legends for her as well.
Last year, I compiled some of these legends and others I wrote on trips to Europe and around the Bayshore in my book, “Christmas Legends of the Bayshore.” This story, Starburst and the Senior Citizen is included in the book and is about Helen.
Starburst G. Angel was very excited. She was proud she had passed all her tests in Guardian Angel School with such high marks. And she was thrilled about yesterday, when God’s Mother Mary had smiled so sweetly and beautifully at her when they passed in one of heaven’s star-filled corridors. And now she was sitting before God Himself, waiting to tell Him what she had learned on her last assignment before officially becoming a Guardian Angel.
Starburst knew from the older angels that the final test was the big one. Each prospective Guardian had been assigned to a very distinguished human for a day and had to report back to God about what she had learned from her first experience on earth. If. … and only if … she could prove she had learned lessons that would be valuable as a Guardian Angel, then God will tell Saint Michael, who headed up all the Angels, to assign her a precious new baby someplace in the world.
God smiled gently at Starburst, who bit the end of her wing because she was also very nervous. She said a little prayer to Saint Peter that she would explain things right.
“Well, God,” Starburst began, with just a bit of a quiver in her voice. “I went to a beautiful town down the shore. I was assigned to a beautiful lady named Rosebud who lived right across the street from Church. So, I stopped in the church to say hello to you, remember?”
God nodded, smiled and told her to continue. “Well, God,” Starburst continued, now running her finger over the top of her halo, “Rosebud is a really, really smart lady. And everybody loves her.
“In the first place, her house has windows. Lots of them. 44 windows! I know because I said a Hail Mary in front of every one of them. Well, very early in the morning, Rosebud sits in the front room of her house very quietly. Anyway, she sits there and just watches everybody go by. I mean everybody. People going to mass, people running for exercise, people pushing babies or walking dogs. And do you know what? She waves to every one of them! And what’s more, they all wave back! So, the first thing I learned is it is important to be friendly and to love people.
“Then I heard her on the telephone. Gee, God, for a lady who has been on earth a long time, she’s very busy. She was talking to some minister about being sure the people at the food pantry had plenty of food. Then she was talking to someone who runs the boat harbor near her house thanking him for being sure it is always clean. Next, I heard her talking to someone else whom I’m sure was a person, but she said he was a Lion, making plans for their next meeting. I had to know more about this Lion, God, so Rosebud explained that it’s really a club of people who like to help others. There’s another one called Elks,” Starburst laughed, “and they aren’t animals either! They’re nice people!
“And if that isn’t enough, God,” Starburst was getting so excited telling her story she didn’t even realize she had crawled into God’s lap “she called up the Police Chief and told him she wanted to be a Special Officer!”
“And what did that teach you?” God asked.
“Well, it taught me it’s important to always be busy, and to always be doing something to help someone else. And do you know, God,” Starburst was now holding God’s hand, “if the Chief wanted to give her another job, I think she would be a great police officer.”
“Well, we’ll see about that,” God answered, “but in the meantime, what else did you learn?”
“I learned that Rosebud’s own Guardian Angel is simply wonderful. She has to work very hard to keep up with Rosebud, but she’s always right there with her, right next to her, even when she’s going up the stairs to bed at night. And that Guardian Angel stays awake all night long … doesn’t even snooze once … to be sure she’s looking after Rosebud every second. The lesson I learned from that is I really, really want to be an extra special Guardian Angel and be every bit as good as Rosebud’s Angel.”
Then Starburst squirmed a little bit and asked God if she could whisper something in His ear. God nodded and bent down to catch the little angel’s words.
“Well, that was unusual, Starburst, and I’m surprised you did something like that without asking me. But since you have learned so much, and been so good, and had such a wonderful experience, I think that will be just fine. And I’ll tell Rosebud’s Guardian Angel what you did as soon as she files her report tonight. You learned your lessons well, and there’s a little baby who is going to be so fortunate to have you be a very experienced and wise Guardian Angel.”
Starburst wiggled with delight, thanked God, and jumped down off His lap. She was happy He would share her secret with Rosebud’s personal angel. Because Starburst, who loved Rosebud so much and loved all the lessons she had learned, wanted to leave a little bit of herself with the human who had taught her how to be a Guardian Angel. And she knew the Guardian Angel wouldn’t mind.
What Starburst had done, what she whispered to God, was pluck a tiny feather from her own wing, rubbed it around her halo, and given it to Saint Peter to kiss. Then just before she reported back to heaven, she tucked it inside Rosebud’s pillow on her bed.
“She’ll like sleeping on that every night,” Starburst smiled, “because she’ll know I’m always right her with her.”
