Butterflies are always frequent visitors in my backyard, but they are also my personal sign from Spirit that everything's going to be okay, this too shall pass, relax and take a deep breath, the list goes on and on and on. Whenever I see a butterfly, whatever negative feeling I'm feeling, no matter how exhausted I am, no matter how homesick I may be, it's all going to be okay and I know I can push through.
I didn't know my grandfather had passed until later in the day after I'd picked my girls up from school. My grandfather, as I tell people, was my second father, and ever since my grandmother's hip replacement surgery last summer I had called them twice a week to check in and sent them frequent pictures and videos of the girls in order to close the gap of distance between Florida (where I live) and North Carolina (where the rest of the family lives).
There was an unusual amount of butterflies in the yard that morning, which I thought was strange but beautiful - I love butterflies. A huge yellow butterfly flew directly in front of me and landed on the leaf of a bush and seemed to turn so it directly faced me, and the thought instantly came to my mind, "There's your sign. Everything is going to be okay." Hours later, I understood why.
While I tried to fall asleep later that evening, I felt a hand comfortingly on my leg and knew it was my grandfather letting me know he was okay. I didn't have a visitation dream like one of my brothers and didn't see him in my mind's eye like my mom, even though I wanted both. I asked him to visit me so I would know he was at peace in a way that I would know it was him. The next day a rust orange butterfly flew right in front of my face before flying away. (We typically only see yellow butterflies in our yard.) And this happened the next day, and the next day, and then I had a vision of a huge swarm of rust orange butterflies flying in circles around the yard - I understood that THIS is how he has chosen to tell me he is with me.
So when the rust orange butterfly flies in front of my face very suddenly, as it does every few days, I smile to myself and am at peace in knowing that everything IS okay and will be okay.
Comments