Angel in the Parking Lot

It was the day before Labor Day weekend, also the day before my daughter’s birthday. Beautiful, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. My children asked to visit a local animal shelter. Our entire family love cats. The children especially love to play with kittens at the shelter. This time, however, we arrived to find that the shelter was already closed for the day. Disappointed, we decided to stop by the pet store nearby, since they also have some cats there.

When we came out of the pet store, the mood was high. As we approached my car, however, I noticed something wrong. Someone had hit the back of my car!

“Ugh, great,” I thought, “now I have to deal with THIS!”

I inspected my car. Aside from the damage on the rear bumper, it looked OK. Even so, I knew the repairs would easily cost $1,000 or more. Of course, I wasn’t prepared for this kind of expense, not to mention the nuisance of arranging for car repairs through insurance company.

Oh I wish we didn’t stop by this store. We were supposed to go home right after the animal shelter.

I let out a big sigh. Oh well, I’ll just have to deal with it. At least none of us was hurt. I decided to treat this incident as a petty annoyance, and set my intention to not let it bother me for more than its worth.

Just when I was getting ready to leave, someone walked up to me. He was sitting in a car facing mine, but I didn’t notice him before. He said that he saw how it happened. Some guy tried to park next to my car, and hit my rear bumper in the process. What’s amazing (or ridiculous) is that guy didn’t even bother to move his car after the accident. That is, his car was still parked next to mine!

The good Samaritan’s name is Charlie Corley. He told me the guy who hit my car parked his own car, and rushed into the pet store (yes, the same store that we just came out of). He said he couldn’t believe how that other driver acted like nothing happened.

I asked Charlie if he would be willing to be a witness for my insurance claim, and he agreed. I proceeded to take pictures of my car and the other car with my BlackBerry. Then, with the witness and evidence in hand, it’s time to confront the guy who hit my car.

Here’s the problem. I didn’t know who that was or what he looked like. Charlie only told me it was a man. Walking toward the store with my children, I thought to myself, “Will I be able to find him? Will he admit he hit my car? I hope he isn’t a gangster of some sort.” I quickly came up with a plan to find him. I marched directly to the customer service, showed the picture of the guy’s car clearly showing his license plate, and told them I’m looking for the driver of this car and why. The staff announced through PA, “Will the driver of a black Honda come to the front desk?”

OK, moment of truth. Is he still in the store? Will he come forward?

Then I saw someone who walked toward the front desk without any merchandise in his hands. He doesn’t look like a gangster. That’s a good sign. I asked him if he is the driver of the black Honda and told him it’s my car that he hit.

At that point, he admitted everything. I didn’t need to show him the pictures or tell him I’ve got a witness. He said he meant to find me in the store, but he “forgot”. Yeah, right. At least he didn’t deny it and he was willing to pay for the damages.

It ended up taking a long time to get his insurance to process the claim and got my car fixed. Because I set my intention to put my inner peace as a top priority, I didn’t feel too annoyed. On the contrary, I kept reminding myself how lucky I am that nobody was hurt, and my car was not damaged badly so I could still drive. Most importantly, I’m really lucky to have a good Samaritan on my side, so I did not have to pay for the damages. I’m really grateful for him.

He is a guardian angel. No doubt about it.

I’m not surprised.

You see, when I was little, my mom once told me she asked a fortune teller about each of our family member’s fortune. I don’t remember what she said, but one thing sticks with me. She said I’m blessed to have many “guey ren” in my life, and I somehow remembered and believed it all these years. “Guey ren” in Chinese means “distinguished, high-ranking person”. It’s kind of like guardian angels. Over the years, I do have many experiences where someone would come to my rescue, bring me things I need, or connect me to the right people, etc.

Twenty years ago, when I first moved to the U.S., an old dis-ease flared up and I ended up calling the friends I just met a month ago to rush me to the ER in the middle of the night. I ended up needing emergency surgery, and they took care of me for months! I couldn’t believe the kindness and generosity they showered on me. Dr. Moody, the old Indian doctor who happened to be on call that night was so kind and did such a great job with the surgery, he took away the pain I suffered for years! Two years ago, I had a breast cancer scare. This time, I got some really powerful goddesses to my rescue! Leigh Anne Sommers, a powerful mystic who lives in Canada, gifted me several healing sessions over the phone. One particular session we did very late at night, I had the most amazing experience of what I believe to be unconditional love. Nancy Weber and Christina Santiago, both dear friends and intuitives, helped me heal both physically and emotionally, using therapeutic-grade essential oils. Dr. James Kan and Dr. Chunyan Teng, my dear friends, teachers and extraordinary acupuncturists, helped me tremendously on my physical recovery as well as spiritual practice. I believe all these amazing souls are my guardian angels and I’m deeply grateful for all of them.

There were many other experiences that were not as dramatic. For example, one time we went to the beach, and as soon as we got there, out of the blue, an older lady came to me to give me their beach passes. I’m just as grateful for this lady, as I am for other guardian angels that came into my life.

Sometimes I wonder whether I have all these guardian angels because the fortune teller was right, or because I firmly believed in what my mom said. Sometimes I wonder, if I didn’t believe in what my mom told me, or I had chosen a more negative belief, would I have experienced all these guardian angels in my life? You know self-fulfilling prophecies? Our thoughts and beliefs can manifest into our reality. That’s why it’s extremely important to manage your thoughts and beliefs. Whatever you believe to be true most likely will come true. If you believe in a higher power, you know you are never alone. You are always surrounded by your guardian angels and other loving spirit.

You can choose not to believe any of this. However, here’s how I see it. If you’re going to imagine anything, why not imagine something good?!! There’s really nothing to gain by imagining the worse-case scenarios all the time, or that you are all alone. What do you think?

Today, reflect on and look for the evidence of your guardian angels showing up, and give thanks to them.