Kissing a Butterfly

A few weeks ago as I was hurrying to leave for work, I opened the front door, took one step outside and saw a beautiful butterfly in my path. A range of emotions flooded over me. Many years ago when my grandmother passed away, someone told me that birds and butterflys are symbols of loved ones who are communicating with us from the other side. That December, on a cold winter day, I was amazed to find a beautiful butterfly flying around my living room. I watched it in awe and then, after a short time, it just disappeared. In the spring, when I stood on a ladder to retrieve a child's ball from the roof, I looked over the ledge and came eye-to-eye with a little blue parakeet. Amazed, I picked him up and brought him into the house. One day, I took his cage outside and it inadvertantly opened. In an instant, the little bird flew away into the sun.

Last summer, a huge, beautiful, white butterfly was sitting on my porch when I opened the front door. I froze when I saw it, but when I walked towards it, it flew away. This day, the butterfly allowed me to approach and I knelt down to the sidewalk. I touched my finger to it's foreleg and it crawed up my hand. We talked for a while. I took pictures with my cell phone. I had to go to work (did I really?) but the butterfly didn't want to leave me.

And I didn't want to leave it either.

After a while, I nudged it onto the flowers. My husband, who I thought was sleeping, told me that evening that he had been standing at the front door and watched the whole encounter.

Kissing a butterfly.