Angels

Recently, I had a visit from three celestial beings and I blogged about it here. There was one thing I omitted from that blog post. 

As a person ages, there are things he is able to do, and there are things that he can no longer do. When those things — the things we can no longer do — disappear from our lives, I think most people just move on. There's little that a person can do about it. It's a part of life.

As for me, I moved on. But after the angels visited me, I discovered that something that I lost six years ago had returned to me. It should not have been possible, and after four days it disappeared again. Perhaps the angels had intended to give me a gift or perhaps it was just a side effect of their "energy" and their presence and proximity to me. Maybe it was "all of the above".

So what can angels do, besides visit us in the middle of the night?  According to many religious traditions, God can and does send angels to deliver messages or minister to people, and some believe they can also be present to protect and guide individuals.

I've always felt that my life has been protected, either by angels, or by unseen spirits intervening at critical times. I feel like I've been guided at times into paths that turned out to be much more beneficial than I would have predicted. Maybe angels do that for everyone, but I know I might be dead by now, were it not for good luck, or karma, or serendipity. This is especially true for my younger days. I believe I had an angel, or several angels, watching over me. Maybe there was a purpose to my life. I don't know if I accomplished my purpose, or whether it still lies ahead of me. I guess there will come a day when everything is explained and I'll have my answers. As will all of us.

Red Flags

Today (March 1) there is a "red flag warning" by the National Weather Service. I don't know what a red flag warning is supposed to mean but it doesn't sound friendly.

Today is sunny and 70 degrees (F) in my hometown. Tomorrow, the high temperature will be 45 degrees. Welcome to Virginia in springtime. 

I'm very worried about my housemate Nuria. She's Costa Rican. We used to chat on Skype, and then she decided to visit me. She had a tourist visa, which has to be renewed periodically. So she came to visit me two or three times, then I found that she could apply for a visa based on the fact that she is a widow of a US citizen. She filled out the paperwork, but the paperwork seemed endless and grew more complicated as time went by.

Eventually, we hired a law firm in Chicago to assist us. For a while, all went well. Then the law firm made a mistake and failed to provide a document that Immigration had requested. When that happened, Immigration sent Nuria a letter telling her that she had 33 days to leave the country. I think the last day for her to be here legally is March 16, 2025. That's two weeks away. After that date, if she is still in the US, she will be here illegally. She won't do that, nor should she.

I suggested that she and I should get married. But her current application is based on her being a widow, and she has not exhausted that application yet. She obtained another law firm and they are working on her case. So we have to see the outcome of that, which will be in two weeks. As I mentioned.

But being married to a US citizen does not give a non-citizen the right to stay in America. Based on Hollywood movies and TV shows, I always thought that it did, but it doesn't. Even if we marry, she can still be deported. So I don't know what is going to happen.

Nuria works at a local Macy's store. When she advised the store manager of her situation, Macy's terminated her employment immediately, giving her March 4 as her last day with Macy's. This has the added effect of stripping her of her severance pay, which she would have received had she worked at Macy's until the end of March when the store closes permanently.

I'll let you know what happens.