The Girl and the Butterfly Bush

Have you ever noticed it’s the small things that make the biggest impact?

There is a butterfly bush that towers over the office I work in. Right now it’s difficult to determine which there are more of clinging to the branches: purple clusters of tiny blossoms or Oregon Swallowtail butterflies.

As I was walking to my car after work last night, two of the Swallowtails flitted past me in tandem. I paused to watch in fascination as they hovered just above the gravel, each facing in the same direction and moving as if they were connected by a single thread moving up and down, back and forth, and swirling in their aerial dance.

I felt as if I’d stepped out of the world and into fantasy as several more pairs joined in and fluttered around me. I stood still, barely daring to exhale, as they circled in the blinding summer sunlight. It was surreal, and yet far too beautiful to be considered even that.

I wondered what would be going through their minds if they could think as humans do. Were they exulting in the echoes of the strains of music that played at the dawn of creation? Were they close friends teasing and flirting, darting coyly away the moment their partner got too close? A pair seemed on the verge of a fight, moving in and backing away with a territorial menace. Still others rested in the shades of the greens and lavender, beating their wings to a soundless rhythm.

And did they wonder at the girl staring silently at them, curious as to why she wasn’t joining in?

It was a moment I like to think was created just for me. A memory to cherish and occasionally take out and revisit. It’s a picture I wish had the words to capture and share with others, but letters on the page could never convey the true grandeur of that instant.

It’s these simple little things that bring me joy and renew my passion for writing. I may never be able to ink out as beautiful a picture as life paints, but I can come close enough that others can share in the magnificent beauty that surrounds us yet so often goes overlooked.