Sinful

last night was halloween. we had quite a few trickortreaters, more than last year. but only one stood out in particular. last night i met an angel named mariah. i heard talking out in the driveway, and so i got up to go give out candy. when i got to the door, i saw the most beautiful child i had ever seen. only there was something wrong. this beautiful little princess in a pink costume dress, wand, and crown was standing just outside the door. she didnt have any hair. my first thoughts were 'how could someone shave this poor little girl's head?! how horrible!' but then i noticed the peach-fuzz hair, blond and wispy. and then i saw the purplish-red marks under her eyes. it didnt take long to realize that she was a cancer patient. i opened the door, held out the bucket of candy and told her to take as much as she wanted, that we had plenty (and we did, apparently mom, grandma, justin, and stink ALL bought candy this year - so we had about 10 times too much). she smiled and took one piece. i told her it wasnt enough, and told her to take handfuls. she looked up at her dad to see if it was ok, not saying a word. he told her it was alright. her dad looked at me and said 'this is her first halloween out of the hospital. she was just well enough for them to release her for a few days. she's very excited since she's never gotten to dress up before.' i couldnt help but ask him though, what kind of cancer she has. he looked at me strangely and asked how i knew, i could only respond and telll him that id been down that road too. she has stage five aplastic anemia, he told me. and we talked for a bit. her name is mariah, her dad's name is duane. he also told me that i was the first person (outside the hospital) that didnt look at her strange. before they left, i told mariah that she looked like an angel. she walked slowly up to me and gave me a hug, said thank you for the candy, and then looked at her dad and asked if they could go home. she was too tired. ours was their first house, i knew, because her bag was empty when they came. duane turned back and said to me, 'thanks for making a little girl's wish come true. she's only four, but we dont know how long she has left.' i couldnt help crying when i went back into the house. i was visited by an angel, and that made the whole night for me. sometimes the small things do make quite a difference.

here's to you little mariah, may you get well and be strong. thanks for making my night, little angel.