The clouds looked brushed across the morning sky as if by a great hand with greater sweeps. I thought nothing of them as I merged onto the freeway on my way to work.
An idle brain does idle things, and clouds were made for wishes anyway, so no wonder I started to see patterns in the streaks of water vapor so far up in the sky.
No wonder then that my response to seeing an angel dominating the sky before me was, “Sure. Why not?”
As I drove south, the image “faced” east, and had its head turned to directly face the early morning sun. I could not tell if the change of perspective as I drove was causing the image to shift, or if high altitude winds were stretching the sky far above the still waking ground. I watched “wings” extend and relax, enrobing cloth flutter and wind, hands gesture and close.
As long as I continued facing south, the angelic clouds remained just above my line of sight allowing me to track the shifting image along with the traffic. I thought this to be something nice to dwell on for a while as work has suddenly become more agitated than usual.
The road turned and my focus followed it. Now driving east, I could only see the clouds out of the corner of my eye. And that is when I noticed what was so different about this particular image.
The angel was floating below and in front of the clouds. When I glanced out the window back at the angel, it appeared to be outlined by the clouds as before. Focus back on the road, and the angel takes on a different visual texture that the clouds do not duplicate. This was no mere trick of apophenia. This was an apparition.
Upon realizing the spirit was present, I also realized the absolute lack of fear I had about the presence of the angel. I wasn’t afraid. I wasn’t braced for assault. I wasn’t concerned I might catch its attention, and I wasn’t furious that it would allow me to see it. A welcome change from the decades before when I would rage into fits at the thought of encountering an angel, much less being visited by one. Is this calm also a result of the recovery of that piece of me?
Once more the road turns south, and this time it climbs as well. The angel is now directly in my line of sight.
It turns its head so that I am now directly in its line of sight. I observe with full curiosity and without any concern as the face of the angel refracts as it turns away from the sun.
Three faces now observe me observing them. The face that is turned completely towards me is obscured by a mask of light so vivid it was like looking into the sun itself. I sensed patience from this face, as curious to observe me observing it as I was observing it observe me.
The second face was partially superimposed on the first. It was turned halfway towards me and bore feminine features. It smiled warmly as if pleased that I was neither attempting nor expecting hostilities.
The third face partially superimposed on the second. It had turned only slightly away from the sun, and even kept its eyes focused on the sun, but was observing me with the same peripheral vision as what I had used to see it clearly against the backdrop of clouds. It held a confident pose and jutted its masculine chin into the beams of the sun like the mast of a ship daring to sail into a storm.
All three faces were the face of the same angel, just expressed in different ways by the degree of refraction. The angel watched me a moment more, then turned all three faces to directly face and train its vision upon the sun again.
The road turned once more, and I turned my gaze with it. I kept seeing snatches of the angel through the passing trees, but I was not anxious to continue watching it. The angel was there, and I was here, and that was okay.
When I turned into the parking lot, I faced south again for one brilliant moment. The angel chose that moment to ascend through the clouds and away from what my physical eyes could see. It left to deal with what angels deal with. I parked the car and went to work.
The apparition has been itching my memory all day, so here is the account to quiet things down. *mirth*