Butterfly Key

On a warm spring day, a baby girl was born at a local hospital in Houston, Texas, to a lovely couple, Jack and Amber. They named the baby, Michelle. Soon the couple went home with their beautiful little girl. The parents loved and nurtured her. They were a close-knit family. After several weeks, Jack returned to work as a high school geometry teacher. Amber, however, did not return to her job as a childcare worker at a local daycare facility. Both parents agreed that she should stay at home with their little girl for a few years.

Three years later, Amber was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, but lost her battle with cancer. Jack was devastated, and Michelle was confused and always longing for her mommy. Jack was left to raise his daughter alone, and found that raising her as a single parent was particularly daunting. So, he enlisted the help of his younger sister, and only sibling, Sonya. Sonya was a single, 23-year old who worked as an Administrative Assistant for an Energy Company. Sonya was great. She knew how to do all of the things that he did not know how to do, such as, comb his daughter’s hair, coordinate her outfits, and teach her how to help bake cookies. Sonya spent many hours with her brother and niece doing many things, such as, preparing and sharing meals with them, accompanying them to the park, singing lullabies, caring for Michelle when she was sick, and providing transportation to and from the daycare facility.

Three years after Amber’s death, Sonya received terrible news that Jack had been killed in an automobile accident. She was devastated. She loved her brother so much. Immediately, she took full responsibility in taking care of her niece. Eventually, she became her legal guardian. Jack had $200,000 worth of life insurance, and Michelle was the sole beneficiary. Sonya sought help from a financial expert about how to invest Michelle’s inheritance. She took her niece (who was now six years old) to live with her in her apartment. The transition was not too difficult for Michelle, because she had visited her aunt’s apartment many times, and she enjoyed spending time with her aunt. For that, Sonya was thankful and relieved. They quickly became a family, even though Michelle frequently asked for her daddy. During such tender moments, Sonya would hold her in her arms, and explain to her that daddy was gone, and she would not be able to see him anymore. Sometimes, she would try to help her to understand by using things around them that her niece could relate to, such as, a dead butterfly. She would show her the dead butterfly, lift it up in her hand, and would say something like, “This beautiful butterfly used to fly all around, but now it is dead and will never fly again. That is kind of what happens when you die. You cannot walk or talk or do anything else again.” Those kind of explanations seemed to help her little niece to understand and cope with her loss.

One day, as Sonya was going through her brother’s belongings, she found a small black notebook. There was a lock on it, for which she had no key. Several months later, she noticed that her niece was wearing a necklace with a key on it. She asked her niece what the key was for. Her niece did not know. She decided to try the key in the lock on the small black notebook. To her surprise, it opened. Inside the notebook, she found a letter written by her brother, and another key. In the letter, he expressed how much he loved her (his sister), and told her that the enclosed key would open a safe deposit box at a local bank. She went to the bank, inserted the key into the lock of the safe deposit box and opened it. Inside she found a stack of money totaling $20,000 with an attached note. The note was written by her brother and addressed to her. As she read it, she began to cry. It stated that the $20,000 was his gift to her for taking care of his little girl.