He Still Watches Over Me

I lost my dearest friend when my husband passed away. We’d shared many joyous occasions and overcame many obstacles in our happy years together. My husband was always the strong one in the family, and someone everyone depended on. I feel his strength and spirit guiding me even now, so I am not truly alone.

We’ve had a man coming to our house for over twenty years to clean the gutters and leaders of leaves that have accumulated, and to do other outdoor jobs. I never have to call him. He appears at my door every spring and fall like clockwork. In all the years that he’s been coming here, he has never come in August.

One Monday in August, my doorbell rang. The worker told me that I had weeds growing in my gutters. Evidently, there was soil in the gutters, birds dropped seeds in, and the weeds started to grow. I live on a street that’s off the beaten track, so I don’t know how he knew about the weeds. I told him to clean the leaders and gutters again.

There’s a large bush in between my front door and the garage door. When cleaning the gutter over the bush, a yellow jacket bee stung him. He said that there was a hive nesting between the gutter and the shingles of the roof. I called the exterminator, who killed the bees and broke up the hive.

A bee stung me many years ago and I found I was allergic to bee stings. The doctor told me to carry an EpiPen with me at all times. If I were to be stung again, I was to use the pen and go to the emergency room at the nearest hospital immediately. The second bee sting could kill me.

I never would’ve seen the beehive that was found so close to my front door. A bee could’ve followed me into the house without my knowing it.

What made the worker come to my house in August when he’d never done so before? What prompted him to clean the leaders and the gutters an extra time that year?

I truly feel that my husband alerted the worker in some way, and that my husband is always watching over me. The bond we had for over forty-six years together cannot be broken because one of us is no longer there. I still feel my husband’s love and protection. My love and devotion to him is everlasting.

—Dorothy Rose Seiden, New York