Some angels take human form

The Boston Herald

Beverly Beckham

The poster has been hanging on my office door for nearly two years now. It's an angel poster. I've read it a hundred times. "Angels are the guardians of hope and wonder, the keepers of magic and dreams," it begins.

Angels, as in spirits, heavenly visitors who keep you from harm's way; phantoms, shadows, apparitions, guardians from another world. That's what I've always thought.

But last week while sitting at a conference table for a family meeting in a hot crowded room in a nursing home in Newton, I looked, not up toward heaven but across the table and right before my eyes I saw an angel.

People walking by would have seen just a very pregnant woman. But everyone at that table knew. The nurses and therapists knew immediately, the first day they met her. It was a million degrees; Julia was nine months pregnant. What was she doing here visiting - who is it? Her grandmother?

The nurses knew the grandmother thing was a lie and they saw Julia right away for the angel she is. And of course the patient, my mother-in-law, has always known. But I haven't. And her son hasn't.

We say Julia is wonderful and thoughtful and kind and so attentive to Grandma. We marvel that Julia cooks her dinner some nights and calls her every day and cares about her so much. Julia is special. Julia is incredible. Julia is the best neighbor.

But we never before saw the simple truth. The words are there on a poster and there is Julia living these words. "Whenever you feel lonely a special angel drops in for tea."

I suppose that's how it began. A young widow with an infant son and a job and responsibilities of her own, Julia kind of adopted Beckham, who lives alone and whose days can be lonely. "Beckham" is what Julia's son Jeffrey dubbed the lady next door with the candy jar always full of M&Ms. Can we go to Beckham's? Can I show Beckham my drawing? They became friends, Beckham and Julia. And over tea they talked and Julia must have seen how much the tea and the talk and the friendship meant because she kept coming back, even after she met Paul, even after she got engaged, even after she married last fall.

Julia asked Beckham to sit with the family at the wedding. Julia bought Beckham a corsage. When Julia came home from her honeymoon and settled back into her life, she continued to make time for tea and talks with Beckham. "Angels watch over you wherever you go." Even when you go to a hospital for a week and then a nursing home for another week. Even when it's July and hot. Even when an angel is nine months pregnant and can't fly on her own.

Paul drove Julia to see Beckham in the hospital and the nursing home, carrying her overnight bag every time, just in case. Within hours after the family meeting, Paul was back on the road driving Julia to yet another hospital where she gave birth to a baby girl. "Angels carry high beams to help you through the darkest hours." Julia carried Catherine Rose into Beckham's house before she carried her home. She placed the child in Beckham's arms and that baby was high beams enough to dispel the darkness for days. Paul glowed and Jeffrey said "That's my sister," and Julia smiled. And later, when they had all gone home, Beckham said, "That's the best thing that ever happened to me in my whole life."

"Angels help you carry the ball, carry a tune, carry your weight and carry on." That's what Julia does.

"Beckham. I'm cooking hamburgers on the grill. How would you like yours?" "Beckham. Paul's going to the store. What do you need?" "Beckham, I just called to see how you're doing." "Angels are with you every step of the way."

Every step of the way. Even when the going is slow and the road is rough and the steps are all uphill. Angels offer an arm, a shoulder, a smile. They're here among us. Julia is one.