Follow a butterfly. Did you know every culture beginning with the ancients believed the butterfly to be the sign of a human soul?
Aristotle named them psyche which means soul.
I believe children, if left to think their own thoughts, know the truth about many things. Last summer we went on vacation with the Grandkids. Everywhere we went, a swallowtail butterfly tagged along.
When we swam in the lake, the swallowtail fluttered about the deck. As we took a boat ride, it sat on the bow. Later we spied it on our walk. It flew in front of us four or five times and rested on a nearby bush and watched us have a picnic. Was it the same winged angel who covered great distances to follow my granddaughter? Maybe it was two or three or even ten who covered the activities of the day.
She said she didn't know where it stayed while she was in school, but it greeted her daily at her home, the soccer field, or her girl scout meeting in the evenings.
I listened but didn't say much. Who am I, I thought, to say what is real and what is imagined in his magnificent mystery we call life?
It didn't matter how many places we explored or miles we covered, Sydney's winged companion followed her.
"That butterfly is my mommy watching over me." She told us more than once.
Being a realist, I asked her "...in the fall who will look after you in the winter when the butterfly has gone away?"
Her answer-- "A cardinal Grandma. They are visitors from heaven."
I never see a butterfly that I don't remember my Molly who left us last year or the love I feel for both of them.
What a caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.
a quote from Richard Bach.
