My family traveled to the mountains in the spring of last year to support my son’s college exploration. Once his tour wrapped up we wanted to check out the local scene. (Does this feel like home for the next few years?) After a superbly tasteful lunch we found ourselves in an interesting herbal tea shop with candles, crystals, tie-dye this and that, and other fun finds. My son was honestly in and out of there quickly but my daughter lingered a little longer to find a gift for a friend that was back home caring for our cats and I had to snag a few loose leaf tea blends to share with neighbors. When we were almost finished checking out the clerk at the counter said, “the angels are in the bag” and smiled with a little sparkle in his eyes. I thought maybe he was talking about the energy of angels being channeled by him into the bag. The bag was folded neatly over and though I half wanted to unroll it and check right then and there, I felt I was either supposed to just get it or left the possibility open that he didn’t say what I thought he said. I took the bag, smiled as if I knew what was up, said thank you, and wished the clerk a good day. Guessing my bag would explode with angel energy when I opened it, I decided to hold off until our shopping was done and we were back at the Airbnb. So as the day went on and our attention became flooded with other details I didn’t open the bag at all. I packed the unopened souvenirs in the suitcase and moved on to the next activity.

When we were back home a few days later I opened the bag to share the treats we found in the shop — and lo and behold at the bottom of the bag there were golden angels gracing the crease. I removed the little confetti trumpeting angels and laughed at how literal this was. There was nothing to guess at and nothing misheard.

These days I keep the little cuties in the kitchen as a reminder to not overthink things because “the angels are in the bag”.