holes, butterflies

I was running at full speed today – work, meetings, supervising students, working on reports, email – non-stop. Even lunch was a hurried affair, but not so quick that I would fail to notice my flash drive had slipped out of my pocket at burger king. I figured I had knocked it out of my pocket when shoving napkins in – except it was suddenly on the ground at my feet in the parking lot. Followed by a tube of chap-stick that slid through the hole in my pocket and down my leg to my feet.

I grumbled, transferred everything to another pocket and was on my way.

The hole, however, was matched by one in my tire. I found that when I left work and got the Low Pressure warning when I started the car. I took my new tire gauge to the tire that had problems before and sure enough it was very low.

And that would be because of the screw embedded in it. It was holding enough air to get me to the tire store where they charged me an arm and a leg to replace the tire.

I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a couple of things and nearly got run over in the parking lot by a guy who – when I shook my head and waved him off – gestured wildly and shouted profanities at me from the safety of his truck.

And the day just got to me. They usually don’t – things don’t happen to me and when they do I don’t let them become a pattern of bad things in a day. They are just things and there are video games to be played.

But today felt like the holes were not just in my pants and tires – they were in me and the fun had just drained away.

Except.

When I first learned how to make origami butterflies, I stopped by my friend Sue’s office. From a simple square of paper – because I always have paper – I quickly folded a butterfly while she watched. I gave it to her and wished her a good day as I headed off to start my own day.

She told me a few days later that she’d had it sitting by her phone and it had made her smile every time she looked at it through a very difficult week.

Which, in turn made me smile.

So, I decided that would be my going away present for her retirement. I found a shadowbox in white and made a collection of butterflies, then mounted them with pins. I used all kinds of paper with the silliest latin-sounding names and the end result looked like something a lepidopterist would envy. I signed the back, wrapped it up, and waited for just the right time to give it to her.

Today, Sue stopped by the office to visit our new space and get the tour. As she was getting ready to go, I gave her the present – complete with a card wishing her a Happy/Merry “Retire-u-mas”.

She opened it up – and promptly burst into tears.

Happy tears. 🙂 I gave her a big hug and then another hug when one wasn’t quite enough.

And that was what was important about the day. Not the hole in my pants or in my tire. Not the terrible meetings and frantic emails. Not the jerk in the parking lot. Not just being so dang tired.

I spread some joy today. Just some flat out joy. I gave my friend a meaningful gift that touched her heart and made her day.

I’m going to miss her when she retires and leaves UA – we’re all going to be a little less without her sunshine.

But, on this cold winter day, some butterflies took off and flew. Can’t ask for more than that.