A Beautiful Life

While cleaning up the backyard of dried leaves and broken twigs, I happened to notice this climber that had outgrown and became unruly in its own space. I immediately grabbed some clippers and started to cut down scores of insect bitten leaves. There was one small brown sac of a cocoon hanging from a twig that I saved, just in case a small life was to emerge in a few days.

So one day while I was waiting for my ride, a butterfly was fluttering around the door not in a hurried flying pattern but ever so slow as if it was just learning how to flap its wings. I took out a camera and tried to catch the butterfly as it soared up and down some tall plants. I wondered whether the small sac that I left hanging opened up and if this butterfly was the tenant of such a home.

I haven't seen the butterfly anymore yet there were a number of smaller ones right after that beautiful day. Fluttering whites and yellows can be seen during early mornings and afternoons. Behold the sight of these visitors as they hop from one flower to the next. It is life right at my doorstep.

However, their colouration and delicate manners simply made them victims for the birds that also visit my garden. High above the treetops where the birds perched and chattered, they swooped down on these tiny creatures to feed their youngs. Oftentimes, I would see broken wings or part of a wing lying on the ground. Their bodies being consumed for food. Food chain in action.

When I left the comfort of my own home to seek and make my life, it was difficult. Day after day for three long months, the tears were just my constant companions. It was difficult being out of your own comfort zone what with all the househelp and the best one's own house could offer. But I needed to fly, to soar and to be on my own.

The birds of the world were just aplenty and in dealing with everyday situations, they felt like vultures ready to devour me anytime. The birds of my life were hovering and ready to pound but I learned to escape and protect myself from harm. The birds of my existence flocked within short distances of me as if they were always on the lookout for mistakes, human errors, insecurities, and misgivings.

The butterflies cannot do anything when they were attacked but I could and I did. When I was out cold, I seek for shelter. When I was lost, I looked for a way. When I was miserable, I comforted myself. When I was in doubt, I thought hard. When I was looking, I opened my eyes wide. I was a butterfly with wings so I could soar. I wasn't broken. I wasn't lacking. I was complete and made ready to face the world. And when I look back on what I had done in the past, I smile because I made my life, a beautiful life.