Once Upon a Time..

My mom was coming home from work one day. A butterfly flew in the van she was traveling in. My mom caught it and found an empty jar in the van to put the butterfly in. When she came home, she gave it to me, and suggested that we build a house for the butterfly to stay in. I was around 4 years old then. So we filled one third of the jar with water, placed 7 blades of grass in it, placed a rose and some other wild flower in, added some stones and rocks, and covered the jar with a piece of muslin cloth. I loved my butterfly.

I spent the whole afternoon carrying the jar from one room to another, showing it to everyone I could. Around evening time, I noticed the butterfly wasn't flying as much as she was in the afternoon. So I told my mom and she suggested it could be because the butterfly was missing its home and maybe we should release it. That made me sad. It was my friend and I wanted it to stay with me, but I didn't want it to be sad either. So I went out to the garden and looked for the perfect place to let go of my friend. I found it near the rose bushes: it was a big fat red rose and I wanted my butterfly to sit on it. So I removed the muslin cloth and the butterfly flew out so fast that I didn't even get to see it. I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye.

I came inside and ran to my mom, sat in her lap and told her in a sorrowful voice what had happened. She kissed me on my cheeks and said that maybe we should go out where I released her and she might still be flying in the same area. So she held my hand and walked me to the patch and I looked around for it; didn't see it anywhere. I looked at my mom and she was smiling and looking down at the collar of my pink blouse. I looked down there too and saw the butterfly sitting there. It didn't leave me without saying goodbye! So I gently touched her wing with my index finger and she flew from one flower to the other. That was our goodbye, although she left me with something: the collar of that blouse still has some butterfly colour from when she sat there.