Butterfly

The week following Isaiah's death we all packed up and headed to our lake house at Grand Lake. We went with the intention that we just needed to be together as a family, be away from everything, and just *BE* together and learn how to be a family of 3 again.

We spent a little over 2 weeks there and looking back now, it was one of the best decisions we could have made. Lake life is so simple. We would sleep, wake up, eat breakfast and then we would head out to the boat for a day of swimming, riding around, and playing. We would end each night with cooking, having some wine, playing and then going to sleep early. We spent our time just focusing on Jackson. The past year had been so hard and time with Jackson had surely been limited. It was so good to love on him and each other. We had the chance to grieve together. Talk together. Spend time together alone. Whether that meant crying or not crying. This time together at the lake was so perfect.

I started noticing something interesting happen every time we took the boat out. We would get somewhere, anchor out, start swimming or playing on the boat and all of a sudden a butterfly would appear. The butterfly would flutter around the boat and just "camp out" on the boat. We would all marvel at the beauty of the butterfly and Jackson would run around (or swim around) trying to catch the butterfly. It brought a strange sense of peace when I saw the butterfly. Kind of like the butterfly was watching out for us.

The first 2 times it happened I didn't think much of it....when it started happening every day and every time we took the boat out it really made me start thinking....What if this is supposed to mean something?

As the days went by I came to expect that butterfly. And then it hit me. I knew it. Maybe this butterfly was sent to us by God and Isaiah to check on us, bring us a sense of peace, and show us the beauty of God and the emergence of something beautiful.

We asked Jackson what he would like to name the butterfly and he exclaimed, "Isaiah! Let's name him Isaiah!"

As hard as that was to hear, it was what Jackson wanted to call this butterfly, so...that is what we called him.

The end of the summer rolled around and we put the boat up to be winterized and stopped going out on the lake when it got too cold. We still went up to the lake during the winter, but the activities changed while we were there at this time of year. We stayed in and snuggled by the fire and watched movies, played games, etc.

This past weekend we went back to our lake house and took the boat out for the first time in 2011. We grabbed our bathing suits, towels and some snacks and set in for a day on the lake. We drove around for awhile and then settled on a new spot to anchor out.

As we all settled into swimming, playing and laying around all of a sudden Jackson yelled, "Isaiah's back!"

Hearing that, it of course, took our breath away wondering what in the world he was talking about. And that's when we saw it.

Our "Isaiah" butterfly was back.

A beautiful and welcome sight indeed.