For Kristina

I am so sorry I haven't posted on my blog. You'd think, what with all my lame-o free time, I could find a moment to update my own blog. Apparently not.

Anyhoo, I was reading an article in my mom's one and only magazine, Woman's World, and I came across this little jewel:

"My Guardian Angel: A Cuddly Little Ball of Heavenly Love"

I won't insult/nauseate you guys by typing the entire article out, but the gist of the content detailed a woman's search for consolation after losing her mother. She pined for her mother, which is understandable, and asked her mother to send her a guardian angel to comfort her. We'll call this sad woman Sheila. Sheila thought to adopt a puppy. And this is where the first of a slew of little "miracles" came into her life. As she puts it, "For months I'd been thinking about adopting a pet--probably a puppy, I figured. So when I suddenly got the urge to search local shelters for a kitten instead, no one was more surprised than me. Yet the feeling was so strong, I just couldn't resist it."

Pardon my cynicism, but *really*? She just couldn't help herself? She just *had* to get a kitten instead of a puppy? Why, that must be her mother, sending her a guardian angel! And no one else was more surprised than she, huh? Isn't she the only person in charge of the decision? And doesn't that mean she is the only one *not* surprised by the decision?

Sheila went on to describe how her son picked out the kitten at the shelter, and the shelter workers had given the kitten the name Angel. Coincidence? Of course not! That's miracle number 2!

Sheila elaborates: "Without mentioning the kitten's name, I showed the picture to my little nephew, Kyle.

"'What do you think I should call her?' I asked.

"'Angel,' he chirped.

"I had to laugh. 'Why?' I asked.

"'Because she looks like an angel,' Kyle replied. And in that moment, goosebumps danced across my skin--for while I'd always been more of a 'dog person,' my mom had adored cats." Of course, she had. And that was miracle number 3, for those of you who are keeping track.

Then Sheila describes how the first few days with Angel were heavenly, which is just lovely. Good for her. But Sheila was not satisfied. No, she still wondered if her mother had sent "this little Angel" to her. Cue M4 (miracle #4), and this one's a doozy:

"Thank you, Mom, for this Angel, I whispered. And in that instant, a white dove landed on a branch right before me!

"Stunned, I gasped. For until now, I'd never seen a white dove anywhere in real life--and somehow I knew it was a sign that Mom was at peace now, and that she truly had sent me this fluffy little Angel to remind me of her love, all the way from Heaven!"

Wow. I know it's cruel of me to belittle Sheila's means of comforting herself after her mother's passing, but I just hate misguided beliefs like white doves and cuddly kittens. Shortly after my brother died, my uncle thought he'd pay a psychic to read my mother and myself. Thinking I was too young, perhaps, to have a deceased sibling, the psychic completely missed the mark and told me I was thinking about college and traveling abroad. Well duh. That's what *every* fifteen-year-old thinks about. Then the psychic told my mother (after learning from my uncle that my mom's son had died) that every time my mom heard a knocking at the door or window and nobody was there that it was my brother trying to contact us. I don't think I've ever forgiven that psychic for being so blase about my own personal trauma, let alone my mother's.

And so, my good friends and fellow bloggers, this is why I scorn Sheila's heaven-sent kitten. There are no guardian angels, no invisible spirits knocking at the window, and no tangible white doves descending at the behest of departed souls. This world is what it is, and the next world is what IT is, and people who try to combine the two are just deluding themselves. Unless, of course, they're psychic. Then they're just trying to help you contact your family from beyond the grave. Or was it, trying to make some money? I must be too busy thinking about college and traveling abroad to remember properly.