Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Sad days and butterflies


Today was a lousy day for my daughter. Last week one of her friend's mothers committed suicide, and today was the funeral. I don't know this friend very well, and I only met the mom once, but my daughter really, really liked this woman. I guess they had many heart to heart chats and Sarah considered her a friend, not just someones mom. I think it's wonderful when kids find adults they can relate to and bond with so I feel very sad for my daughter. The funeral was up north in a town about an hour away, and at the last minute Sarah's ride didn't work out so I ended up playing hooky from work to driving her and her friend since I could see it was really important to her that she attend.

I guess 15 year olds like to have their own life, their own little world, so she didn't really want me to attend the service with her. Since we were an hour from home I figured I'd just kill time until she called to tell my she was done. I went and got my hair cut which didn't take long at all (good bye 6 inches!) then I decided to go for a hike. I drove up behind the church to where the houses ended and found a place to park and a jeep trail. It was a lovely spring day for a hike up the mountainside. The hills were yellow with mustard plants, the lupines a beautiful blue, phlox and alliums and the occasional astragalus were also in bloom. The sage brush smelled wonderful, the birds sounded wonderful. It was really nice to get out for solitary, peaceful hike on what should have been a work day.

The highlight of my walk was getting to a little spit of a creek. It was rocky, all of about an inch deep, and swarming with tiny blue butterflies. With their wings spread they were a beautiful blue, when closed they were grayish and blended in perfectly with the rocks they were sitting on. Bunches of them sitting on the rocks perfectly camouflaged, until disturbed, when they spread their wings and made little clouds of blue. I wish I'd had my camera with me.

So I ended up having a nice day, and attending the funeral lifted a big emotional burden from Sarah. I'm sure my boss won't be thrilled about me missing work, but sometimes you have to do things for your family, and today was one of those days.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Linda, you are such a good mom to know your daughter well enough to understand her need to attend her friend's mom's funeral.
I can't believe you didn't have your camera with you for the butterfly show! You always have it handy.
Glad the day had a "up" side.
With shorter hair, you'll need a new TH, ya know.