A Butterfly's Goodbye  

Author Unknown
  
What a wonderful experience Jan had with the dragonfly! I  
had an amazing experience with a butterfly.  
  
I am a butterfly girl - I love and collect butterflies. One  
Saturday morning, I had a tremendous urge to go to a 2nd  
hand shop. There was nothing in particular I wanted, but I  
felt so totally compelled to go...so I did.  
  
As I crossed the gravel carpark after getting out of my car,  
I saw a butterfly just sitting on the ground in front of me.  
I bent down, expecting it to fly away, but it didn't. I  
reached out my finger, and to my surprise, it crawled onto  
it! I took the butterfly over to the side of the carpark  
where there was some grass. It wouldn't get off my finger,  
and after trying several times, I said "Okay, you're coming  
shopping with me!"  
  
We went into the shop and looked around. All the while, the  
butterfly was perched on my finger. After taking a close  
look at the body of the butterfly, I saw there was a little  
damage. I felt that it probably wouldn't last too much  
longer.  
  
After coming out of the shop (I didn't buy anything), I once  
again tried to let the butterfly go onto the grass. It still  
wouldn't go, so I took it to the car with me. It was coming  
home.  

The butterfly jumped off my finger onto the car seat as I  
lowered my hand down.  
  
Just as I turned a corner near my home, I thought I saw the  
butterfly flying around inside the car. I looked down at the  
butterfly on the seat next to me, and it had died. I had  
'seen' the spirit butterfly flying around in my car. As it  
registered what had happened, I felt the words 'thank you'.  
  
Now, I am a bit of a sooky la-la...and I burst into tears.  
Not so much from sadness, but from the wondrous experience.  
I felt so very honoured to have been called to the butterfly  
in its time of need.