Foley's Tails From Rainbow Bridge: Nola Sticks the Landing

 

When you are on the mortal side, you don't have time to examine life; no more than you can see every bit of the road as you are racing down the highway. It is not when we reach the Bridge that we can look at our life spread out before us, from beginning to end.

For most of us comes the moment when we know the end is near; it is like spinning out in a car and heading in a completely different direction. It is not the end of the line, just a new beginning.

That spin is a critical moment when we transition from beginning to end. It is the end of mortal life, and we all want to stick to the landing.

No one did that better than Nola and her mom Lisa.

The spin-out started as a limp: Something very innocuous. But it can be that way, and this limp was a sign of spreading cancer. Nola would have happily given a limb to stay, but the tumor rapidly overtook her body.

Faced with the end, Momma Lisa made every day they had left together unique. To squeeze a year of fun into a few hours. Nola was delighted and didn't want to fade away but to go out like a fading firework.

The family packed up and drove up 95 for a camping trip to Baldwin, Maine. Nola knew it was her last time, and she breathed in the clean air, unlike her home city, which always has a fragrance of linguica and chow-mein sandwiches.

Nola treasures every minute, remembering the scenery, the sound of laughter, and the love.

Nola enjoyed her first bit of real ice cream; it didn't matter. No one was checking her weight. She also got a Happy Meal. She was flying high, with no fear of falling, because she was a half angel by now,

Then, thanks to his mom making the biggest sacrifice of all, taking on all of Nola's pain, suffering, guilt, and sorrow, and setting her free where she was met by hundreds of angels he had met when they were all mortal and who admired how she transitioned from being a family dog to an angel.

The mortal world is lessened by not having Nola's physical form amongst it, but those who can see the unseen know it is better because a full-hearted, loving angel is now guiding events.

Welcome home, Nola.

You definitely stuck the landing/