Butterflies

One morning last week I awoke with a terrible headache. I'd already fought a rare migraine a few days before and not wanting to do battle again, opted to stay in bed awhile before going to work later that morning.

I didn't feel like going at all. Though I always consider myself blessed with wonderful gifts in this life, sometimes the inevitable trials gather like dark clouds on the horizon, threatening to shroud my sunny days in gray.

I headed out the driveway, my mind wrapped around all the things that have been causing stress, and though the day was lovely....I barely noticed. As I pulled up to the stop sign at the end of our gravel road, I saw a bright butterfly dancing merrily alongside of me. It swooped and flitted in and out and turned west with me as I pulled out onto the highway. And then I began to see them everywhere; dancing in the blue October sky like a winged ballet.

All the way to town I saw them and each turn brought one or two new butterflies, flying beside me, leading me, carrying me towards my destination. Once there, I walked towards the school accompanied again by a fluttering wisp of yellow.

As I entered the building they disappeared like a favorite dream, lost in the arrival of day. But their moments of merriment as they escorted me that morning stayed with me and set the tone for the rest of my day. And when I walked into the classroom I realized with delight that my headache was gone, and in its place the memory of a dalliance with the butterflies....