Who Whispers In Your Ear?

My old friend Brendan Boyle recently shared this story with me. With his permission I now share it with you.

💐

Pat,

Sheila and I stopped at the grocery store in the U District last night to buy flowers for Miguel’s grave.

On my way out, this clean, tidy looking Indian or Pakistani woman with a small girl came toward me and quietly asked if I could spare some money for food.

I looked at her straight in the face and told her I had no cash on me. She looked back with a gentle loving kindness and said “Okay.”

As I walked back to my car I could hear Miguel’s voice saying, “You can do better than that.”

So I went back and found her and said, “Come on, we’ll go in together and you buy the groceries you need.” And she did, about a month’s worth of the best steaks and roasts in the store. I could just hear Miguel’s voice laughing all the way through the checkout stand.

I put it down to another “God Moment” yesterday, or as your brother Kevin used to say in his stage Irish accent, “The Lard will provide.”

Brendan

Brendan’s story was quite touching — an illustration that we all have angels sitting on our shoulders reminding us we can do more than we think we can do.

This story is all the more poignant because the voice Brendan heard was that of his son Miguel, who had only recently passed away.

And it came to him before he left for the cemetery.

Maybe, Mom and Dad, before you come to the cemetery with your flowers, you could make a real effort to help the lady with a little girl in need of food.

Brendan responded to the voice of his son, this time approaching her not as a beggar, but as a neighbor.

A shopping cart of real food.

What about that second angel perched on his other shoulder whispering, “The Lard will provide?”

That would be Kevin James Moriarty (1953 – 2015).

The unmistakable voice of brother Kevin, who invariably brought everyone else to laughter. If Brendan heard Miguel laughing at the check out counter, you can be assured Kevin was laughing, too.

Two beloved voices from the other side, working the same shift, along with a chorus of departed loved ones joining them at the check out counter.

— All singing Brendan’s praises for getting it right.

Here’s the lesson I take from Brendan’s story:

The ones we lose are only lost in the temporal world. They’re with us always in the ways that really matter.

• in our hearts
• in our minds
• in our souls 

They give us a nudge, a joke, an expression or phrase we can’t shake.

Some of the messages I receive are:

~ Be a little kinder than I was planning to be.  
~ Do a little more than I thought I could  do.
~ Don’t judge people who I really don’t know.

And always be ready to listen — really listen.

Perhaps the love Brendan lavished on the lady and her daughter was akin to the love lavished on Miguel.

The encounter Brendan and Sheila had with the lady at the store was much more than an encounter with a family in need. It was a moment of deep connection with their departed son played out in kindness and generosity towards a neighbor.

Just a thought…

Pat

💐

Let me leave you with a few words from Mr. Rogers, who reminds us we all owe so much to loved ones who interceded on our behalf. (Run time: 51 seconds)

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