When I was in college, the student newspaper had a shout-out section where fellow students were publicly called out for good or bad behavior.
Examples: “Just wanted to give a shout-out to the amazing barista who drew Bucky’s face on my latte foam — really made my day!” Or: “To the guy blaring Jock Jams at 7 am Saturday morning in the dorm —get some headphones!”
These shout-outs were especially heartfelt given that this was before social media barged onto the scene.
For a shout-out to make it to print, students had to be so moved by another’s behavior that they would need to track down: (1) An unoccupied computer in the computer lab and (2) the editor’s email address of the student paper, before they could then (3) email the editor with their sentiments.
This was way harder than whipping out a phone and posting about it on social media.
If there was a shout-out in the paper, that person was moved to put it there.
In that vein, I wanted to give an old-fashioned, bottom-of-my-heart shout-out to my guardian angel for, well, a lot:
“Shout-out to my guardian angel for repping me to the Big Guy. I know at this point you don’t even have good excuses for me anymore. You can only play the ‘but she was tired’ card so many times. By now, it probably just feels like begging: ‘Look, we both know she handled the back-to-school season poorly. And yes, it was her 13th year of getting kids ready for school, so of course she should be better at this by now. But please, I really think with a little extra grace and some fall foliage thrown in to lift her spirits, she’ll be able to turn it around in October.’”
“Shout-out to my angel for helping me survive each day by reminding me to pray, pick up my kids from practice, take dinner out of the oven, and unplug the iron. Thanks for reminding me every single Friday in Lent not to eat the leftover spaghetti and meatballs in the fridge.”
“Shout-out to my angel for protecting me from danger. Also, thanks for the tough love from every stumble, stubbed toe, and door I’ve run into when I was worried or worked up. I appreciated the help getting out of my head.”
“Shout-out to my guardian angel for slowing the Internet when I didn’t need to check my email for the thousandth time, for the weird prompting to check my phone when a friend had texted asking for prayers, and for urging me to double-check the label when I was about to add cinnamon instead of cumin to my chili.”
“Shout-out to my guardian angel for not swapping me out for someone else, for not trying to optimize your person assignment by angling for someone more promising, but for devoting your entire Heavenly mission to just me. Your patience, loyalty, devotion, and determination are out of this world.
“I get that it’s a tough job. It’s probably like being a Formula 1 race car driver and being tasked with taking a cross-country road trip, but the catch is you’re not driving, your toddler is. You have to sit and watch as she wrestles with the wheel, complains constantly, seldom takes your advice, and has approximately 12 near misses an hour. I imagine the only time your nerves aren’t shot is when she’s asleep.
“If you were driving, you could make the trip in less than a day. But with your toddler driving, the trip is going to take you 94 years — if you’re lucky — of lurching, stopping, getting stuck, getting lost, and flat-out going in the wrong direction as you coach her through it all. A love like that can only come from our Father in Heaven.
“Guardian angel, thank you for everything, especially your extreme patience as we make this journey together. I’m going to try really hard to make it to the end so we can have a latte and a laugh about all this one day. Drinks are on me if you promise not to bring up that time I insisted on a wrong turn that took us four years out of our way.”
Meg Matenaer is a wife, mom, social media writer, and author residing in the Diocese of Madison.