Tuesday, October 13, 2009 - Homecoming Day, or why I Like Butterflies
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Homecoming Day, or Why I Like Butterflies
It’s October 13th, 2009. Petra’s Homecoming Day. The day she left this earth for a better home… 9 years ago. I no longer feel like being sad on this day. If I spend it somberly I will have missed a day of my life being sad. There is a time for weeping, and my time for grieving is over.…. Done with that work for this particular loss. There are lots of losses left to grieve still, but this is not about those losses. It’s about GAINS.
During her short stay on earth, Petra brought much joy to many. She seemed to have too much personality to contain in her tiny body! Her smile melted hearts, and grabbed all attention. I will always remember her wrapped cocoon like in receiving blankets in the NICU. Even then I pictured her as the caterpillar who would one day fly higher than her imposed limits.
Since she had Down Syndrome, we tried to surround our little girl with things that would catch her interest, and hopefully stimulate her brain, to give her the best chance at a normal life. Butterflies are very eye-catching. I began to make use of their beautiful bright colors when I had a chance to. A poster of neon technicolor butterflies was affixed to the plastic sheeting on her stainless steel crib where she spent her days and nights at the hospital. I found a plush caterpillar toy bigger than she was. It was a light turquoise color, had stubby little wings, striped legs with sneakers, and it giggled uncontrollably when she moved(… or when a nurse attended to her needs… or it felt like it… or whenever you didn’t expect it to and it could make you jump!)There was a large vividly pink butterfly balloon that we bought her for one of her surgeries. It was so pretty, I couldn’t throw it away when the helium was used up.Raymond taped it to the window when she moved to another room so that it could be seen from the highway when our truck driving brother in law came through. We added countless other bangles and push toys to her bedroom, but there were always butterflies.
And one day, she flew away to be with Jesus. It was messy and horrifying for me to witness. In the same way, when a caterpillar has to go into its chrysalis, it looks unpleasant. The poor lowly creature turns into a sort of soup as its cells get rearranged before it can rise to glory, as another of a different kind. Sounds scary, and painful. But maybe it isn’t. I don’t know. What I do know is that it sure is a whole new wonderful thing … being a butterfly.
When we drove the long 40 miles up to visit Petra in the medical center, we used to play that old song by Seven Day Jesus…. “ I wanna be a butterfly…”
Normally, I take this day off of school and remember her. This year, we are studying insects, and we have decided to participate in The Journey North’s symbolic monarch migration. Today is the deadline for mailing them, so we had a little bit of school getting our butterflies ready. How wonderful to do something positive on this day! I had planned on getting some more done today too… but the Lord’s plans were different.
Today, it happened that my nephew, Nick was online and chatty. At Petra’s funeral, I gave one of Petra’s toys to each of her young relatives. Nick got the laughing caterpillar. I am unclear to this day whether he took it home. My sister in law Montana, put her toy in the casket with Petra’s old tent.Nick may have done the same. ANYWAY……..TODAY He made comments about my status on Facebook… it isn’t unusual to see me talk about God in the status update box.
Nick popped up in chat and I was thinking that I only had a minute and was already running late with my plans today. MY BIG PLANS… my plans are NOTHING!! As my friend Barb once said, it should be us going where God goes, not taking Him with us as we go about our lives…So, being what day it is… I was thinking of Heaven. Nick was saying how much he loved God. I told him I was going to Heaven and that he could know that he was too…. It just FLOWED. God was working, and I was just going with the Spirit as He blew into our chat. It was just… CHAIROS. Divine timing. God stepping into time.
Nick got saved! My nephew is now my brother… funny how it happened through this family relationship… like my own story. I was helped to find Jesus by one of my favorite uncles , and became his sister. And that story had much to do with Petra and her life/my loss too.
And what a way to celebrate a life! What a great day! What a GREAT GOD WE SERVE! What a wonderful Savior! We took the rest of the day off :) After all, it is Homecoming Day…. |
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About Me
Well, I'm a Mom, a Medical Assistant, a knitter, kite flyer, nature lover...Around here we have special needs, ( Asperger's, ADHD, Bi-polar) a few animal pals, some tattoos and a homeschool. It's our 6th year. This is my 16th year of marriage to a Mr. Visionary who happens to be a walking miracle.
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