It was the beginning of the New Year, 1997. Outside of her home in Monroe, Michigan, it was cold, windy and snowing. Inside, Joy LaPlante was counting her blessings for a warm house and thinking how glad she was that she didn’t have to go outside. Joy was startled by the sound of my phone ringing. It was her good friend Honey.
“Joy, did you hear what happened?” “No. What?” she answered.
“I turned on my police scanner,” Honey continued, her voice serious. “Joy, there has been a plane crash!”
Joy felt her heart sink as Honey continued. “They’re saying it’s in a field in Ida.”
They listened to what was being said on the scanner and could hear a fireman’s voice quivering as he spoke. “We don’t know what kind of plane this is, but it looks like a disaster.”
The fireman spoke again, “Call in Petersburg, Deerfield and Monroe. Put everybody else on standby, we’re going to need help. We need to find out what type of plane this was, and how many were on.”
Two weeks later on the night of January 23, Joy felt the presence of someone standing over her, watching her. She was afraid to open her eyes for fear of what she would see. Joy just knew if she opened her eyes there would be someone standing there looking at her. She laid there thinking, maybe it was the spirit of her grandmother or grandfather, but somehow she knew it wasn’t. She started saying The Lord’s Prayer and then started praying that whatever was there would go away.
However, just then, with her eyes closed, Joy saw the most beautiful face she had ever seen. His eyes were as blue as the sky on a day full of sunshine with no clouds. The blue part of his eyes had purple running through it and gold flecks that sparkled. At first, she just stared at his eyes in total awe.
Then she realized her eyes were open, and the feeling of love was overwhelming. So overwhelming in fact, that Joy thought her chest and heart were going to explode. She was no longer scared. She looked at him and said “Hello.”
This is true story in the aftermath of ComAir crash 3272, the only major, commercial airline crash in the United States in 1997. Originally written and self-published in 1999 by author Joy LaPlante, “Angel Gabriel – A True Story” has been updated to be re-released in all e-book formats by publishing house All Star Press. The release date was Monday, June 24, 2013.
Book reviewers and bloggers should contact the publisher at allstarpress@verizon.net to request a copy for review.
