Legally a guardian angel

I used to have a joke with a friend that I was a guardian angel - as in someone who seemingly magically appears at the opportune time to serve as a reminder that the core of life is good. I always shrugged his compliment off because to me, guardian angels were figments found only in the la-la land of childhood movies, like Whitney Houston and some guy named Duddly in "The Preacher's Wife."

Now, a little bit older and a lot bit wiser, it is my genuine belief that everyone has a guardian angel and everyone is one to someone else, even if they never realize it. Whether we help each other with personal problems, relationship issues or simply provide a friendship, it’s the human interaction that keeps us afloat through our toughest times and provides the advice we so desperately need to help us carry on.

I never took my friend to be a soothsayer, so I don’t really know when our joke became a prophecy, but somehow I have become an actual, legal guardian angel. Well, sort of. I’ve become a guardian ad litem thanks to my summer internship with the Guardian ad Litem Program in South Florida. With hopes of attending law school and needing to do research for my senior thesis, I wanted to combine my love for the community and children with my political science background.

The Guardian ad Litem program, funded by the state, provides children, from infants to 18-years-of-age, with assistance in the dependency court system. Thus, it is my job as a law intern to represent children alleged to be abused, abandoned or neglected and work in their best interest regarding legal aspects of their lives. Essentially, I play a big role in a little person’s life.

While jeans and winter boots and weekend getaways to the French Riviera or Amsterdam seem like dinosaurs in my not-that-distant past, it’s back to the real world, business attire and all. It’s time for me to give back to those who will most likely never get to experience even half of the wonderful things I’ve done. By meeting with and representing these children, I am not only helping them, but I am also paying a huge thanks to all those who have been my angels-in-disguise at one point.

'Tis better to give than to receive. Now if only I could sing like Whitney Houston.