For Nana

When I was little I caught a butterfly in my hand. It was so beautiful with specks of gold, purple, and green. I wondered to myself where did this butterfly come from? How did she get here? I made up stories about how she was probably from royalty because of her purple color and rich texture. I thought maybe she could have been from wealth, because of the gold specks that danced around her wings so soft and elegantly. I envisioned that all the other butterflies were envious of her because she was green and illuminated when she flew from flower to flower. I loved her so much that I basked in her beauty. I wanted to keep her for myself forever and ever.

I asked my mother for a jar, and I put her in it so that she would never leave me. When we were alone, I let her dance freely all over my room and sometimes she would stop to kiss my nose. But one day to my surprise when I opened the jar she did not move, she did not dance, she did not illuminate. My beautiful butterfly was gone. And while I admired her for her beauty, and the time we shared I knew that that my room was not her world. What awaited her was a land rich with exquisite things like honey nectar, and dew drops, lemon grass, and rainbow casts a new journey for her to embark where she could dance freely and allow the world to bask in her beauty.

For Nana, Dedan and Dylan will continue to bask in all that you made beautiful.