The young man approached after Mass, a member who I had never met before and asked me the strangest questions. Was I close to my mother.? And so on. It seemed so odd that I backed up a bit looking for an escape. We talked a little, how I loved my mother but had lived for years away from home. Then he said: "Have you had an encounter with a butterfly ?" My mouth dropped open and I sputtered, why, yes.
Oh my, how could he know?
A few years before I had been on a hillside in Australia feeling alone, tired and forgotten. I sat on a pile of logs to rest and was treated to the dance of a small white butterfly. It flitted around me, never landing just being with. It was rather amazing. I thought :"it seems like a visit; a comforting, arms surrounding visit." The feeling was so strong that I had to take a picture from there which turned out to be a gorgeous sweeping shot of fields and mountains.
Turning back to my new friend I said: "yes, a very comforting visit" He said: "That was your Mom."
And so with this postcard, I pray for that young man, my Mother and all the people in Australia who were good to me. Jodi who found a church for me to go to and her Dad who, when that didn't work out, invited me to sit on another hillside and talk about loved ones who have gone before us. For all of this I am grateful.
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