Meeting Madeleine L'Engle

I borrowed my sister's copy of A Wrinkle In Time way back in elementary school. Life changed. I became Meg: Calvin befriended me, Charles Wallace held my hand, Sandy and Dennys tolerated me, my father disappeared, and my mother cried. Every new story and character intrigued me, opened my world, and taught me about the enormous power of Love.

I shared my passion about all things Madeleine L'Engle with my hometown youth pastor, Reverend Sarah-Anne Colegrove. After reading A Wrinkle In Time, Sally decided to invite Madeleine to our Fall Weekend All Church Retreat in Sharon, Connecticut. As well as an amazing writer, Madeleine L'Engle was also a Christian laywoman, speaker, and workshop leader. The gift of 48 hours in my favorite author's presence fell out of the heavens and into my starstruck lap!

That weekend I drove into New York City with another one of my pastors, Reverend Dale Greene, to pick up Madeleine and bring her up to Silver Lake Conference Center in Sharon. We met at her office at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine where she worked as a librarian, then stopped at her apartment where she lived with her husband, Hugh Franklin, to gather her things. Books galore -- even the bathroom had amazing wall-to-wall bookshelves! Personable and kind, she welcomed us into her world like old friends.

Friday and Saturday flew by -- I drank in every moment of every workshop, conversation, and shared meal in the Cedars. Saturday night I ended up in the Sharon Hospital Emergency Room with a chipped elbow after falling in the main room. Madeleine was also nursing an injury that weekend which was the reason why we were driving her to and from the Retreat. Gracious and compassionate, she had me sit next to her after I returned in my bandages and sling. She said we were now twins. Could my life get any better if I had planned it?

Actually, yes. And this is the reason I will always love and treasure Madeleine L'Engle. When the time came to drive her back to Crosswicks, her home in Goshen, Connecticut, she asked me to drive along. We walked into her big, roomy kitchen and after a short space of time, she turned to me and said, "do you want to re-enact the beginning of A Wrinkle In Time?"

"Yes," I said. "How?"

"This is the house where it all happened. Go up the stairs, through the playroom, and into the bedroom. Lie down on the bed...and start."

I raced up those stairs in a flash. And did exactly what she said. I became Meg. I woke up in the bed, bumped my hip on the ping pong table, creaked on the third step leading into the big kitchen, and looked at Madeleine with a huge smile on my face.

"Now, go outside. You'll find the star watching rock and the rock wall where Louise the Larger lived." She smiled back. And I was gone, eager to see.

The memory still makes me cry. What a gift. She saw me. She saw my inner Meg. She saw my awkward, unsure, half-baked self and ministered to me in the most holy and loving way possible. And that connection has lasted my entire life.

Six months later, Madeleine L'Engle spoke at the Chapel at Vassar College. I was one of hundreds of students who attended. Afterwards I went up to say hello. I figured she wouldn't remember me, but I was in for a surprise.

"Hi, Madeleine...I don't know if you remember me..."

"Annie! How's your elbow?"

When you are Named, you become more fully who you are meant to be. Madeleine L'Engle wrote "love isn't how you feel...it's what you do." Thank you, Madeleine, for Naming me during a time when I had trouble Naming myself. I've always held on to that. You may be gone from this planet, but never from my universe.