I Met My Guardian Angel in Philadelphia

This is an experience that I so far have only shared with a handful of people, but absolutely changed my life and introduced to me the very real fact that Angels exist.

I met an Angel in the most unexpected place in the world:

Outside of a bank in center city, Philadelphia.

I was 18 years old, living in Philadelphia, having just dropped out after one semester of college at a university, and was now working at a pretzel stand in the subways of Philly.

It wasn't glamorous, but I absolutely had fun.

I had a wide range of amazing, funny, inspiring coworkers, including one man who came from Cusco, Peru (which, looking back, I think is a huge foreshadowing of my time in Peru, as I had never met a Peruvian before him, and his gentle kindness and great sense of humor were the reason why I promised him that someday I would visit Cusco, Peru, which came true at age 22 when I began working with Plant Medicine in the beautiful country)

Anyways.

My parents had just split up two weeks ago, I was drinking nightly and taking the subway to random stops in the city to get lost and cry and avoid my pain, and I felt like I was so angry at the world that I would simply fade out of existence.

I felt all the things: failure, despair, anger, resentment, frustration, confusion, panic.

I would normally come in for my 12pm-6pm shift, leaving my house at 11:40 to take the Broad Street Line to center city, and have an extra 5 minutes to walk to street level, then walk across Broad Street and go back down another staircase into another part of the subway station to get to work.

One day, after all of these events coming up at once, something just told me to leave for work two hours early.

I didn't know why, because I had nothing to do in the city, but I put on my work clothes, grabbed my backpack, and walked out of the subway station at 9:55am.

My first thought was that I could at least cash my recent paycheck, so I walked to the bank, accomplished that in a few minutes, and was walking out with my hands in my pockets and scanning the city for something to do, when I heard a voice say--

"Hey, I like your hat"

Now, let me tell you my process with this. I didn't talk to strangers in Philadelphia. That's usually not a good idea as a skinny 18-year-old girl who doesn't have more than a boxcutter hooked to her pants pocket, and anyone who ever spoke to me on the street I would walk away from and pretend they didn't exist.

But this one time, this singular rare moment, I paused and looked up, and said, "Hey, thanks" and scanned the crowd for who it was.

I locked eyes with a regular-looking mid-30s guy wearing a vibrant red matching tracksuit with huge white sneakers, and a matching red snapback with an obnoxious holographic sticker on the front of it.

My first thought, honestly: This guy looks like a douche.

Not at all the type of person I would ever consider myself remotely interested in talking to on a regular day. My apologies to any men reading this who enjoy near-neon colored tracksuits and snapbacks.

But, for some reason, I just smiled, and he said, "You're welcome. That's a Patagonia hat, right? Do you like to hike?"

I walked up to him and said, "Yeah, actually, I grew up hiking and I'm from further Northeast, hiking is my thing"

And just like that, we struck up a conversation.

He introduced himself as Bobby.

I found out, almost immediately, that Bobby was just a kind, thoughtful, regular guy who loves his wife, and really loves God, who happened to be an extraordinary channel for Divine word.

Within a few minutes, we sat down together on the steps outside of that bank, and he began talking about every single thing that had been on my mind for the past week, all the way from his experiences with overcoming alcohol addiction, to his own parents' divorce, to rediscovering his love for God and finding his way home to inner peace.

My jaw was on the floor.

Every single question that had been on my mind that I didn't even know I had was answered without me even opening my mouth to mention it.

He had absolutely no clue who I was, I had never seen this man before, he had absolutely no way of knowing how to extract information from my clothes or the way I spoke to know these intensely deep, personal, and heart-based things I was working through.

And he gave me advice on absolutely everything.

There, in that space, where time did not seem to exist at all, and people milled about and stepped around us or sat around us eating a late breakfast, I was filled with the most beautiful sense of peace I had ever felt. It was like looking into Bobby's eyes was having God speak directly to me.

And God really did speak through Bobby. He spoke a lot about the teachings of Jesus Christ, of his issues with God that he overcame, and how God came through anyways and protected and loved him and led him back home to himself.

I don't remember all of it, because I was in a haze of absolute peace and feeling like someone was speaking to my soul, but I do remember many tears falling down.

Eventually, I felt like the conversation was coming to a close.

Neither of us had a watch to look at, nor had we looked at our phones, nor was there a clock to look at anywhere, but Bobby and I got up and began walking to a little side street that in my memory I honestly don't even know exists or what streets we took to get there.

There was a taxi waiting for him, and Bobby opened the door, and before he left he gave me a huge, warm hug, and said,

"Anastasia, I know you'll do just fine. God loves you, and is aching for you to know him. You have a really good heart. I wish I had something to give to you to remember this conversation, but I'll just say to keep believing that you can do this."

He got into the taxi and they drove off, and I stood there tearfully, hugging myself, wishing I could experience that hug over and over and over.

I took my phone out of my pocket and clicked it on.

11:55.

The exact five minutes it would take me to walk to work and clock in.

I got to work, and the whole day I anxiously awaited when I could go to the bank to get change for the drawers, and I would jog in circles around the bank, hoping and praying I would run into Bobby again.

I did this little routine for weeks on end, hoping he'd be there, wishing he'd given me his number or that he would remember where I worked and come to visit me again.

But he never did.

But since then, I still remember his words that created the biggest ripple effect on my entire life since that day.

I listened to him.

I moved back home to live with my mom and love her despite the circumstances of my parents' separation that hurt me so badly.

I began reading about God again, and exploring that connection, and praying.

I went back to church now and then, like I always say "because I like the music" and to remind myself of scripture and teachings that come through in a way that can reach me.

I began working on myself in a deeper way, to connect to that real, unconditional love that Bobby shared with me that day.

A few weeks ago I was speaking to a beloved Medicine friend of mine, who is very connected to Creator and the Angels, and recounted this story to her.

She had just closed an Ayahuasca ceremony, and was still feeling the medicine, and as I finished the story, she said, "That was your guardian Angel. That's exactly what I received from the medicine about this. You met your Angel. Bobby was your Angel and he came to meet you...how beautiful"

What's funny about this story, is that when I was little I always used to pray to my guardian Angel and ask them to hug me.

I never experienced a physical hug when I asked, but as I know that all prayers are always answered by Creator for the highest good (even if we struggle to grasp it), I am so grateful to know that my Angel came to answer that prayer, and so much more.

Thank you, Bobby.

And thank you, too.

Lak'weh