The Day I Met My Guardian Angel
One orange, one apple and one banana
July 6, 2022
I've been waiting for this day, in order to wrap up and put a bow on my recount of the 2020 Bike Trip along the Lewis & Clark Bike Trail along the Missouri River. This is the perfect date for this final story from that hot summer of 2020.
Before leaving, I had made a conscious decision to try to find nutritious food selections, in the many gas stations and convenience stores I would come across along the way. Many places don't stock fresh fruit; Qwik Trips are great though, and my goal was to eat one orange, apple and banana every day. Truth be told, I didn't always achieve that goal, but it was on my mind every day.
Now, I wish to suggest readers review my post for July 28, 2020. Perhaps the toughest day of the entire trek, I was traveling with very little food and water, because nothing had been available at Snake Creek Campground, in South Dakota, where I had spent the previous evening. Another instance of "closed on Mondays".
It was a blistering hot day on Tuesday when I had came across a small sign for Prairie Skies Country Inn. While several miles off route, the sign had a phone number, and I was hoping against hope that my phone call would be answered. My intention was to ride there if it was really in business. (Remember Covid). Tom, the proprietor took my call, and proceeded to put together some food, jumped into his pickup truck, and met me along the way. He came with food items for lunch - sandwiches, fruit and water.
While I was consuming his food, Tom proceeded to tell me the story of his daughter, who had taken seriously ill on a Catholic Church choir trip to Wisconsin, of all places a couple years earlier. She had been mis-diagnosed in Wisconsin, and valuable time had been lost. The Drs. did not have a favorable outlook about her survival. Then a miracle occurred.
Maria Goretti was a young Italian girl who died at the age of 11 from injuries she suffered when she was stabbed 14 times. On her deathbed she forgave her attacker. The date was 1902. She was canonized in 1950, one of the youngest saints of the Catholic Church. The Church has set aside July 6 every year as her feast day.
St. Maria Goretti was always a favorite for Tom's daughter, and after a long period of being bedridden on July 6 she began to recover. Drs. have no medical explanation other than to say her recovery was a miracle. She lost both legs to the terrible disease, but now lives at home and has a strong will for life. Tom recognized my predicament as an opportunity to Pay It Forward, for the miracle that had saved his daughter.
Tom seemed to have an intuition about the food items I would need that day, in order to continue my ride. Along with the sandwiches he had packed in his plastic bag of food there was exactly one orange, one apple and one banana.
