FOREVER AN ANGEL

My mom loves angels and has collected them for many years. She has said on many occasions that all our loved ones who have gone to heaven are now angels looking over us.

Sadly, on April 16, 2007, a large group of new angels entered heaven from Virginia Tech. One of them, Maxine Turner, was a friend of mine after many years together in elementary, middle and high school orchestras. I’ll always remember the smile on her face and her kindness.

Shortly after the tragedy, the world-famous Virginia artist P. Buckley Moss was inspired to draw a beautiful sketch, called “Forever an Angel,” and put the image on her e-mail newsletter. My mom immediately made it her home computer desktop picture, and it has stayed there ever since.

Last summer my mom found out that Moss was issuing prints of the image (minus the Virginia Tech logo) with a portion of the money going to a Moss scholarship fund at Virginia Tech. My Mom was thrilled and told my dad, my brother Zachary and me how much she would love that special print.

I knew this would be a great present for Mom’s birthday on December 7. Luckily, Zachary and I found out that it was in our price range. I also found that P. Buckley Moss would be in Waynesboro, Va., the last weekend in November to personally sign any of her prints. Since I go to college two hours from Waynesboro, I decided to drive over that weekend to get the print.

I first went to the Moss museum to buy the print, which was numbered, something that I did not realize also made it special. Then I drove about a mile to actually meet and talk to Ms. Moss personally. She was very nice and thrilled about my story of why my brother and I were buying her famous print for my mom. “She must be a very special person and a lucky mom to have two sons who love her so much!” she said.

Between our final exams, my girlfriend Stephanie and I took care of getting the print framed. I then made a special trip home, not getting there until almost midnight on my mom’s birthday, but she woke up for me. I first gave her a bag with several great candles from Stephanie, and then I gave her a white bag with P. Buckley Moss on the side. She immediately cried when she saw the name of her favorite artist.

When Mom opened the bag and saw the very famous “Forever an Angel” print, all she could say was, “A priceless gift – a priceless moment – I love you and Zachary so much for giving this to me!”

Today that picture is in the middle of Mom’s dressing table. She says she looks at it every morning as she prepares for the day and every evening before she goes to bed. She thinks of her sons, of the angels in heaven from Virginia Tech and of all our family and friends who are angels in heaven watching over us.

— Stuart Paul Rawlinson

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist