I put my keys, cell phone, and mace in a bag and walked out the door. I crossed the street, and came upon an old man who was chillin' on a brick ledge. He asked me what I was doing, and as I spoke to him, a young man appeared out of no-where and offered me two bottles of cold water. I gratefully accepted his gift and put them in my bag. I thought it was interesting he gave me two bottles instead of just one.
After wrapping up the conversation with the old man, I headed down the street towards my intended street: Bundy Avenue. As I walked along, an old woman appeared in front of me: she had on a long, colorful, traditional Mexican dress. Her face looked very weathered and serious. She asked me if I had any money to give her. I felt bad, there I was with wings on and had no money to give her. I opened my bag and showed her that I didn't have anything, but I excitedly offered her one of my bottles of water (because that was all I had to give!), which she accepted. I felt like maybe that was why the guy and universe had gifted me 2 bottles of water, one for me and one to share with another!
I continued on down Bundy. The more I walked, the more the sun seemed to be baking me. I was very new to California at the time, and I highly underestimated the sun's impact that day. I drank the bottle of water the guy had given me pretty quickly. I had a certain location in mind for how far I planned to go, but didn't realize how far it actually was in terms of walking distance, with the hot sun bearing down on me.
As I walked along, proudly showing off my poster to the commuters stuck in traffic, another man came rushing out of the front door of his home, excitedly waving his arms and saying, "An Angel!!" He came over to me and introduced himself, he told me that his son and his friends probably thought he was crazy by exclaiming he'd just seen an angel pass by his window, so he wanted to rush outside to meet me and introduce me to them. He ended up giving me a nice big glass of water, with a slice of lemon, which I was happy to chug down since I was sweating like a pig by that time. I thanked him, and kept walking down Bundy. That man is still my friend to this day, and he randomly sends me kind words of support and encouragement. :)
I didn't go much further, I realized the heat was really getting to me, so I turned around and started to head back home. My heart sank when I realized I was pretty far from home, and felt like I was going to have a heat stroke or something. I was very close to the gym that I work out at, so I decided that I would go to the gym and see if someone leaving could provide me with a ride home. I prayed to God and the Angels, asking them for their protection and for a safe ride home, because I was too exhausted and weak to continue. As I rounded the corner approaching my gym, a man ran across the street and asked me if he could take a photo of me. I agreed, and told him I felt like I was about to faint though. He could see that I was a hot mess, and he ran inside and fetched me a cold bottle of water. I told him I was headed to the gym to find a ride home, and he offered to take me. Now, normally I don't ask or accept rides from strangers, but in this case my intuition told me that he was the immediate answer to my prayer I had just whispered, and that I would be safe. He gave me the ride home safely, and I was eternally grateful. I thanked him profusely and told him that he did a good deed, and I hoped that the universe would repay him somehow.
One of my best friends lectured me up and down later for having a stranger take me home, and I knew the risk, but I had to listen to my intuition on this one, and was glad it worked out for the best. I learned a valuable lesson that day: to not risk my health and life in that way again. But it was a great memory and I met some great people.
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The thing I would like to mention to readers about this story is: to me, I felt like I was divinely protected this day. The call to action on this Angel Project has been strong within my soul, to where it's not something I can just "turn off". It's something I feel like I HAVE to do. It's like I would risk my neck for this project, because something higher than me wants me to continue and is watching over me.
~Mandelyn Reese~
The LA Street Angel
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