Hope is the thing with feathers...

I've always had a love of butterflies, so many different and unique ones exist, they are a mirror of the fabric of life. They are mystical winged creatures with an incredibly short but amazing life.

I caught sight of this butterfly in our landscaping 2 weekends ago, just before heading to NY to visit mom. I grabbed the camera and took some shots on the lilacs. They really couldn't have turned out better if I had tried, the colors, the light and the moment were just right. It was only the dogs who kept more shots from happening!

That weekend, our friends J and A gave us a gift as part of our adoption journey, it was so thoughtful, a wonderful set of CD-rom's to learn Mandarin, something we've been thinking of doing. But what was really wonderful was the card, the picture is posted here. It had a butterfly pin and a brief story.

I am a butterfly
A symbol of new beginnings
A token to get you by
A symbol of new winnings
Yet to Come

Wear me on your shoulder
Let me make you strong
Make you bolder
Let me be your wings for a while
So you won't forget
How to fly

About half the quilt squares we've received are butterflies, the card from J with a beautiful butterfly and then the announcements of our pregnancy with Sophia were hand made note cards with butterfly picture windows and butterfly handcut out vellum prints that E and I made. We aren't religious by any stretch of the imagination, but we are spiritual. Maybe there is a connection between our past and our future, maybe there isn't and as people read our blog they think we're crazy. But that's their choice, for me, it makes me think.

It makes me feel better and makes me think back to a few days after Sophia died, back to a conversation with Joan, when I'd really lost hope. I quoted her a line from my all time favorite poem, HOPE BY EMILY DICKENSON and told her hope had just flown out of our lives for good. Those were very dark days for us. Here's the poem:

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

J also wrote a note inside the butterfly card which was touching for 2 reasons. The message was beautiful, about not giving up hope for a better day and for a happier life than we've been through to bring a child into our family. It also touched me because few people now adays take any time to write a simple note or card, let alone a thank you card!

It's like in the last 20 years, the art, the symbol and the spirit of writing notes has vanished, sucked into oblivion and replaced by a quick sign on the bottom of a card and a stamp on the envelope, did you ever wonder if all we've become is a Hallmark generation by convenience? We live in an automated, quick fix, instant pleasure, drive through, 7-11 society, we forget to take time to do the simplest of wonderful gestures, like a couple lines in a card that make someone's day. Why is it so hard to write notes nowadays? Why isn't it worth the time anymore? Are we really, come on now, are we really that busy?


I can honestly say, I will probably read that card more than once in the coming months and it will always bring a smile to my face. Thank you J & A.