A Butterfly Landed on Joe’s Hand Today
The porch table is cluttered with cups and books: a dictionary, a thesaurus, a phone book and more. I’m adding some last minute touches to the Museletter (the monthly community newsletter I co-edit) and noticing that my fingernails are caked with dirt from putting the asparagus bed to sleep. I’m thinking about Natalie Goldberg and Jeff Bridges, Natalie because I’m doing this writing exercise and Jeff because we’re halfway through watching Crazy Heart. I’m also on page 37 of Eat, Pray, Love (another book on the table). She’s in Italy eating now and I’m wondering if her section on loving will be as hot as her descriptions of the food.
Now Joe is reading me something he has written. He gets to a murky part that we both know will have to cut or rewritten when a golden butterfly lands on his hand. He turns his hand gently and gazes. The spell is only broken when I get up to get a camera and our Animal Totem book, even though we both know that butterflies symbolize transformation.
Now he’s on the phone and I’m in the kitchen. His voice sounds like a radio playing in the background. I’m not interested and don’t want to listen but I can’t help trying to decipher what he’s saying, like trying to figure out a crossword puzzle or when I feel compelled to read every sign I pass while driving.
My most recent totem is the mountain bluebird. When I’m in the house it comes to the feeder. When I go on the porch, it flies away.
Now I’m thinking about pizza.
June 1st, 2010 4:13 am
Oh, I LOVE that a Beautiful Butterfly landed on your dear husbands hand….That is a true treasure, isn’t?
I LOVED “Crazy Heart” so very much…And I LOVE Jeff B. He is really something, in every way.
Enjoy the rest of it, my dear.
Haven’t read Eat, Pray…But I do look forward to the film with Julia Roberts….Another very “special” human being.
Gee….I wish Jeff B. and Julia R. would make a movie together….THAT would be something!!
June 1st, 2010 7:26 am
You will enjoy Eat Pray Love. Gave it to my daughter last year and she never gave it back! The Love section is very gentle and romantic, I hope that didn’t spoil it.
June 1st, 2010 8:25 am
Now my interest is piqued. How do you know what your totem animal is? I’ll have to google it!
June 1st, 2010 8:40 am
Years ago I participated in a Shamanic Drumming ceremony for finding our animal spirit guide. The crow came to me. At first I resisted it, thinking I should hold out for something more interesting, but the crow turned out to fit me to a tee.
Joe and I use the “Medicine Cards” book for determining the medicine of each animal. When an animal comes to us in a sighting or close encounter, we think of it as a gift or omen and we look up the symbolized meaning in the book and see how that speaks to us.
Joe picked up Eat Pray Love at a book sale for $1!
June 1st, 2010 9:36 am
I’ve heard that’s very good luck (the butterfly).
You’ll like Eat,Pray,Love. I can’t wait to see the movie.
June 1st, 2010 1:00 pm
I love that the butterfly landed on him. Awesome!
I, too, have to read every street sign or other sign I pass on the road. It is a compulsion!
June 2nd, 2010 8:50 am
That’s very interesting, Colleen. I’ve always felt really close to crows as well, mostly because they played such a prominent role in my up bringing. We would always feed our table scraps to the crows in woods out back. I have always tought they are beautiful animals, and it turns out, they are also incredibly smart (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106826971).
June 2nd, 2010 9:09 am
Crows are smart! And they have an extensive language. They also have conventions were they seem to gather and “talk.” The are considered shape shifters too. I think of crow medicine as one of voice and a merging of the inner and outer worlds. http://autumnsunrise.wordpress.com/2008/09/21/todays-animal-medicine-crow-92108/
I once wore a crow feather in my hair for an entire summer, standing up in the back like Geronimo.
June 3rd, 2010 7:24 am
love your porch vacations, aren’t porches the best thing since sliced bread?
June 4th, 2010 12:22 am
Hmm, a lovely golden butterfly! Bluebirds mean pizza? lol I wanna see lots of them!
June 9th, 2010 10:58 pm
[…] The butterfly that landed on Joe’s hand last week has returned several times since then. I think it has bonded […]