My angels start with A

Not all angels are from the other side of the veil.
-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland



Last night my niece Afton watched me from her mommy's snuggly lap. I smiled and waved at her from my spot at the kitchen table. She eyed me and buried her face in her mom. She can be so shy, that one.

A few minutes later she walked past me sitting on the floor. "Afton," I said in my sweetest auntie voice, opening my arms, hoping. "Come here and let me love on you."

She stopped for just a moment. Then she grinned and walked into my arms and held on tight for one of the sweetest hugs I've ever had. It left me feeling happy from head to toe for the rest of the night.

My nephew Ammon is a busy boy. He is always on the move, one arm swinging back and forth as he tromps along resolutely.

But every now and then, when I'm there, he will just stop what he's doing and say with a smile as sweet as butter,
"Meg."

He usually catches me by surprise, and I can never keep from breaking out into what is probably a slightly dopey grin.
Our eyes meet and I reply, "Ammon."
Then it's business as usual and he goes on eating his mandarins or sifting through the legos or heading to the kitchen for one of Grandma's pots.
I smile again whenever I think about it.




I can't help feeling that these little ones know.
Somehow they know that Janie can't always show the love that she feels,
love that I am needing,
even when I am unaware that I need it.
So they do it,
for her, for me.


thank you, thank you
little Angels