Butterflies

"A Butterfly lights beside us like a sunbeam, and for a brief moment
his beauty and glory belong to our world...
but then he flies on. And although we wished he could have stayed,
we feel so blest to have seen him..."

This morning while I was drying my hair I looked out my bathroom window and saw a butterfly perched on a shrub outside. I was reminded of this poem that I had read. I had been having a rough morning and I wondered for a moment, which one of my loved ones who had passed on was sending me the message that everything would be okay.

I feel their presence around me in times of tears and times of joy. I know that they watch over my children and me. I know that my children's grandparents watch over them and their cousins.

I like to think that our guardian angels are the people who have loved us and moved on, but their spirits remain with us to help us through the difficult times and share our joys.

I know that I wasn't alone when my children were born. My grandmother had a soft spot for little boys since we had been a family of virtually all females. My son would have been one of her greatest joys and I believe she watches over him and laughs at his antics, enjoying the great-grandson she never got to know in life.

In my daughters room there is an angel in a snow globe. It was given to me by my aunt and now it is my daughter's guardian angel. I know she is looked over and protected by many angels, but there are days when I swear to you she is channeling the spirit of her great-aunt. She is a girly girl who loves flashy things with beads and sequins. I can see how much fun she would have had shopping with her Aunt Hona.

I wish they were still here with us. I miss their laughter and the sound of their voices. I miss their mannerisms and their flaws. I don't pass a bar of Dove soap without being overwhelmed by the scent of my grandmother. I don't see a pair of flashy shoes or dangly earrings without my aunt's sweet smile coming to mind. Sometimes when I'm really angry I whip out the phrase she used and call someone a "beady eyed sack of Siberian snake s**t". And then I laugh.

These are my butterflies. They are not the only ones, but they are the ones I think are with me most often.