Butterfly Wings

"Just a word before I sleep. You will be my eternal guiding stars. Let there be no wasted tears or regrets. They would only damage the so-delicate wings of all those wonderful butterflies."

With these last written words, Ida tried to ensure we would continue our family life without her as wife and mother. For her, butterfly wings were the symbol of the almost magic and utterly fragile connections we make among each other as family members and as close friends throughout our lives. Such connections can, she felt, be made, perfected, broken or damaged in so many ways as we navigate perilously throughout our lives.

"Les ailes de papillons," she said. They were butterfly wings. She felt those fragile things that we call love and friendship, bonds and trust-shimmering, delicate-hanging by the merest thread.