Guardian Angel

Hey guys, I have a story I wanted to share with you. It's a story of my guardian angel. Now, when you think of guardian angels, you might think of people with wings, wearing all white. That's totally not what I'm referring to. When I say guardian angel, I mean someone who shows up to help when you're in trouble, then disappears without a trace. These could be people who just happened to be walking by or they could be angels sent from God to help. To be quite honest, I'm not sure what they are. All I know is they are good. Alight, that's enough explaining. Let's get to the story. 

   So our story begins with me walking around downtown Kona. I had been waiting for a friend to get off work. It was about 11:30am and I had to wait until 3:00pm so I was window shopping to kill time. I stopped at a cross walk to wait for the cars and then the cars stopped for me. I waved politely as one does to say thanks and proceeded to cross. Me, being the clumsy person I am, I tripped in the middle of the crosswalk. Having sprained my ankle many times in the past, I've gotten used to just falling over when I feel it coming. This keeps the sprain from getting too bad. This time, however, when I fell, I caught all my weight on my left knee. Now, keep in mind, I was wearing shorts and the road was anything but smooth. 

   My knee was just a big patch of blood and my ankle was already swelling a bit. Not wanting to hold up traffic, I quickly got to my feet and hobbled the rest of the way to the other side. On that side there was a wall that was low enough to sit on. I sat down, not knowing what to do next. I didn't cry even though it hurt. I was sitting there thinking of what to do. 

   I looked around to see if anyone had seen what just happened. As if that was a question. It was a Wednesday, which meant the cruise ships were in the bay. It was the busiest day of the week. Still a little in shock, I wasn't sure what I should do. I sat there thinking a long time, but as people walked by they started handing me little things. A few gave me band-aids, a Japanese lady gave me a package of sanitizing wipes, even a homeless lady gave me the last of her bandage tape and gauze. None of these thing were big enough to use on my wounds, but they wanted me to have them all the same. 

   I had sat there long enough, so I got up and started limping down the sidewalk. There were others sitting on the wall. When I got to the end of the wall, the last man asked if I had a dime that he could have. He looked at me with hopeless, saddened eyes. The people next to him started to scold him. They said things like, "She just fell, don't ask her for money," and, "You should be ashamed of yourself." I asked them to stopped yelling at him and dug around in my purse. I usually don't keep any cash in my purse, but I found 2 dimes somewhere in the bottom. I handed the man both dimes. I told him I'm sorry it's not more and that he should keep his head up. Then, I continued down the road. 

   I walked only a few feet before someone came up and started walking beside me. I moved more to the side thinking he wanted to pass me since I was walking slow, but instead, he kept my same pace. I looked over and he smiled. He said, "Hi there. I saw you fall earlier. Can I help you in any way?" I told him it wasn't that bad and that some people gave me band-aids. Then I thanked him for his offer and assured him I would be fine. He replied with, "Band-Aids don't work on a sprained ankle, Miss, and I don't think that gauze is enough to cover your knee." He smiled a very kind smile. I gave in and said alright. He walked with me to another place I could sit. He told me to stay right there and that he would be back. 

   I watched as he disappeared into an ABC store. I waited for a while, thinking back... I was trying to think of how he could have seen me fall. The only white guy anywhere around when I fell was the driver and I know it wasn't him. I thought he could have maybe been behind me, but why would it take him 30 minutes to come ask if he could help? Before I could find a logical explanation, he was back with a paper bag. He pulled out an Ace bandage, some gauze, and some medical tape. He asked if it was alright for him to put it on for me. I said sure. I watched as he carefully cleaned my knee before putting the gauze on and wrapping it with tape. 

"So, what's your name?" I asked him.

"Sully. What's yours?" He looked up from what he was doing just long enough to smile. 

"I'm Ashley. It's nice to meet you. Thank you so much for this by the way. How much was this stuff? Can I pay you back for it." I grabbed my purse and opened the zipper. Although, I had no money in there, so I'm not sure what I was thinking.

"No, no, no, you don't have to do that. I just wanted to help." He laughed a little as he continued to wrap my knee with tape. 

"But you shouldn't have to do that, " I tried to reason with him. 

"I didn't have to, but I wanted to. Please just let me help," Sully said with an honest smile. 

"Ok, well then thank you very, very much... I'm not sure what I would have done if you hadn't come along." I whispered the last part so I'm not sure that he heard it. 

"So how long are you here for?" Sully asked moving on to wrapping my foot. 

"Well, actually, this is my last day." I replied kinda bummed. After all, I had stuff I wanted to do, but the sprained ankle kinda rained on that parade. 

"Really? Oh you have to go out and have fun then. Promise me this sprained ankle won't keep you inside all day, okay?" Sully paused what he was doing to look up at me. 

"Okay, I promise. Sprained ankle and all, I will go out and have fun tonight." I couldn't help but laugh at him. 

"Good." He smiled happily. "Okay well, I think you're all fixed up." He stood to his feet and tossed the trash in the bin by the store. Then he handed me the brown paper bag. "I should get going. There's extra gauze and some more tape in here if you need it. I hope you have a wonderful last day here, Ashley." 

"Thank you again for all your help. I really appreciate it." I smiled thankfully at him and we both waved.

   He started to walk away and I looked down at my knee. I touched it a bit and it stung. When I looked back up he had disappeared. I was barely looking down for 5 seconds and, just like that, he was gone. I got very confused and looked around some more. I know he was walking away, but I should have been able to see him still. He had gone just the same way as he came: Out of nowhere, in a split second. 

   I hobbled the rest of the way back to my hostel, stopping a few times along the way. When I got back to my room I sat on my bed thinking about what had just happened. I couldn't for the life of me figure out where Sully had come from or where he had gone to so quickly. I remembered when I gave the man my last two dimes and tried to remember if I saw him around then. I couldn't seem to find him anywhere in my memory. He had truly come out of nowhere. 

   I decided, whether he was truly an angel or just a person, it didn't matter. Whatever he was, he was a blessing from God. Whether he knew it or not, he was showing God's love so clearly to me. Helping selflessly and asking nothing in return. Even though I got hurt, I was so thankful for that whole situation. I was able to experience so much kindness and love from it. I sat there crying thankful tears. I was so incredibly moved by the people who had stopped to hand me band-aid and things. I was especially thankful for Sully. I had never had anyone do anything like that for me before. I had never had a stranger care for me so much. 

   I have a scar on my left knee now. It's about a quarter of the size the wound was that day. Every time I see it, I can't help but smile. It reminds me of just how much God cares for me, how endless His love is, and that, no matter how bad it seems, there is still kindness in this world.