THE NIGHT THE ANGELS CAME

Cathy Glass has written The Night The Angels Came (HarperCollins).

The little boy who taught me how to love again.

Cathy Glass, as a foster carer, looked after around 100 children.

One of these children was eight-year-old Michael, whose mother was already dead and whose father was dying.

Eighteen months prior to Cathy taking on Michael, Cathy's middle aged husband had left her for his secretary, a woman in her early 20s.

'We can help Michael,' said Cathy's children, Adrian, eight, and Paula, four.

'I think Michael should come here,' said Adrian. 'We can help him.

'Paula and I know what it's like to lose your dad.

'I know divorce is different - we can still see our dad sometimes - but when Dad stopped living with us, in some ways it felt as though he’d died.'

Michael's father, Patrick, told Cathy that Michael as a Roman Catholic had a strong belief in the afterlife.

Cathy immersed herself in caring for Michael and his father.

One morning, Michael told Cathy he had woken early because he thought he had heard his father's voice.

'He spoke to me Cathy,' said a smiling Michael.

'He told me to hurry and get ready for school because the priest was waiting.'

Then the phone rang.

Michael's father had died during the night.

'He's with Mummy now,' said Michael.

Michael went to live with his two godparents, Colleen and Eamon.

Cathy and her children still see Michael.

Cathy writes: "I hold dear the lessons .... Michael taught us: that however insurmountable and all-consuming my problems may seem, there is always someone out there with something much worse, who is dealing with it with stoicism and undimmed humour."

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Cathy Glass - Wikipedia