Who: Mia Peterson, 28, self-advocacy coordinator for the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati, columnist for the D.S. Press and future Olympic torchbearer.

        On display: Several dozen angels.

Mia Peterson and some of her angel collection. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

        Where: Scattered throughout her Hyde Park apartment.

        Heavenly flock: “I love to collect angels,” Ms. Peterson says. “I'd do anything to have a whole bunch of them, but I do have a few in a whole bunch of different shapes.”

        A little help from my friends: Most of Ms. Peterson's angels are gifts from friends and family, but she has purchased a few for herself.

        “I just received several for my birthday a few weeks ago,” she says with a grin. “One present was a whole set with wings made of delicate glass. I was also given a sweat shirt with three angels on it and another that is like a puzzle.”

        Chic cherub: One of her more fashionable items is a black evening bag bearing the image of an angel. It was a holiday gift from a friend who attended the National Down Syndrome Society Christmas Benefit Banquet with her in New York last November. Ms. Peterson serves on the national board of directors. Heartfelt sentiment: “I also think of dolls and stuffed toys as my angels,” she confides. “Because I don't have anyone living with me, I consider almost anything I see as my angels. They are looking down on me right now and they are telling me, "You are an angel, you are a good person. Think of the good things instead of the bad things.'

        “I think of myself as an angel,” she says, “because where I live now, it's a place where dreams come true, and so many have come true for me. I've lived here for four years away from my friends and family. (She's originally from Webster City, Iowa.) They think of me as their angel, and I think of them as mine.

        “Everybody I work with has also been an angel to me,” she adds. “I am grateful that they let me work here and show them what I can do.”

        I believe: “Probably the first angel was there when I was born,” Ms. Peterson, who was raised a Catholic, muses. “I have a favorite television show called Touched by an Angel. The main reason I like it is I like how powerful the message is that they give. It gets so emotional. It is really real. I kind of sometimes dream that I could be on the show. The only reason is, I would like to be in a position where I can send out a message about my own position and how I feel being where I am in life now.”

        “I like angels,” she concludes, “because I believe in the magic.”

        Share your prize possessions with Marsie Hall Newbold by mail: c/o The Enquirer, Tempo, Prize Possessions, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati, OH 45202: e-mail: marsolete@aol.com.

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