Butterfly

She asked her daughter,

“Baby Girl? What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Baby Girl answered with a dream like smile and stars in her eyes,

“I wanna be a butterfly!”

She was slightly amused but more so perplexed so she took a deep breath and said,

“A butterfly? Why?”

“Because butterflies are beautiful and free!”

Her own pessimistic view of reality kept her from commenting. She wanted to tell Baby Girl not to liken herself to a butterfly because nobody knows a butterfly’s true value. Because at best, she would be giving herself a 1 year life expectancy. At worst, she would be nothing more than a trophy.

Trophy wife to the forest and home girl to the bees,

the butterfly is good for looking pretty and dropping seeds.

She’s sought after for capture by those who are mesmerized by her looks;

used as a muse and a dried out decoration in scrap books.

In her adolescence she’s regarded with esteem; partly for what she does but more for what she’ll be.

She didn’t want to tell Baby Girl that she was once a butterfly until she became a mother. She didn’t want to make Baby Girl feel like she had resentment toward her or her brother so she directed her next question to her son.

“Little One? What do you want to be when you grow up?”

He looked his mother straight in the eye, brimming with pride, he said, “A MAN!” Taken aback with his conviction, she quizzed him a little further.

“Little One, you’re already gonna be a man. I said what do you want to be, but maybe I should have said what do you want to do.”

Little One,

known for his attention to detail derailed her when he said,

“That’s not true. You said, It ain’t no men left! I heard you, mommy! It was you!

So when I grow up, that IS what I wanna be!”

She couldn’t believe that Little One had even heard all this, much less to recapitulate it so she leaned back in her chair and thought to herself, “What have I done to my babies?”

But in her moment of reverence, she forgot that butterflies are good for looking pretty

And dropping seeds

 

And that’s what she used to be.

 

In Baby Girl, she’d planted vanity and a desire to live a fantasy.

In Little One, she’d planted a hope to be something she’d told him he’d never seen.

Then they turned the tables on her and asked her, “Mommy, what do you want us to be?”

She thought for a minute and a tear cascaded down her cheek.

“Be happy, be productive, whatever you do, just be better than me.”

Reviews

[Soul Magic✯]

outstanding expression. i enjoyed reading this piece beginning to end. children are so precious... loved the message at the end. keep that pen hot :)

[Orlando Murcia]

Very sweet and encouraging
Heartfelt with a lot of beauty

Nice Work!

Orlando M

[Mia Pow]

Beautiful and well-felt. This is one of my favorites! Nicely done!

[S. Allison (Ferrante) S..]

I love it. I feel this everyday as a mother.