Buddy The Christmas Angel

 

There are many things that there should be a law against the law, and one of them is being sent to the Bridge less than a week before Christmas. Everything gets magnified during the holiday season, probably because of the momentous event that spurned it. That includes grief.

If there were a week without new souls passing over, it would be nice for the angels too. We could enjoy the holidays and do some much-needed maintenance here. But the Earth doesn't stop spinning; time marches on, leaving perished loved ones in its wake.  

I always feel terrible when I get a text that I have to swear in a friend, but, six days before Christmas, when I learned my old friend Buddy McGregor was crossing over, I could only think of his poor parents and the sadness that would tinge the most joyful day of the years.  

Buddy McGregor slipped away from his mortal coil at home, surrounded by his parents and brother Trip. One minute he was there, the next he was gone: It often happens like that. It was a terrible shock to his parents, so much so that they didn't tell anyone. Sometimes, things aren't valid until you speak of them. 

Buddy passed over quietly. His family who preceded him to the Bridge: Bonnie, Clyde, McGyver, and a few more of his family's angels greeted him. His parents weren't ready to share news of his passing. Sometimes, it is better to deal with the initial shock before announcing a passing and comforting the friends and family shocked by the loss.

Keeping his passing quiet was difficult because the stars were brighter with him as an angel and now part of the atmosphere. There was a hint of his scent on the breezes when his parents decided to go public with his passing; three days later, the clouds over Rainbow Bridge filled with tears that rained down upon us.  

My sister Pocket was sad when her first Christmas as an angel arrived - all spirits are. I took Pocket as a ghost to my family's dinner so she could sit on the floor and hope food fell, just like she did last year. Buddy's predecessors did the same for him. Both families could not explain why there was not a scrap of food on the floor after dinner, and we well-fed angels knew why. 

No family should lose a loved one at Christmas. If they passed that law, I would arrange to make Christmas every day. We could close up the Bridge and get some rest. But, like and death march on, and it's impossible to stop it.

Even for our Buddies.