A Little Imagination And A Steady Breeze

*

I'd been watching butterflies breaking the mind's imagination for years, ever since I was a little girl watching their acrobatics from my mama's porch swing. Their bright colors and effortless flutter always amazed me. All this power, packed into such a beautifully fragile frame coming and going with graceful ease and before you knew it, it was gone again. Off to another flower, another cattail reed or maybe even, another dimension.

Yes, I know how absurd that sounds, and I believed it was absurd once too. Until that long afternoon, when I fell asleep on the pier and woke up in a dream.

Or so I thought.

As I woke, I made my way around in this dreamlike state for what seemed like hours. I felt the slightest pull of pressure across the center of my back, just over my shoulder blades. I twisted and turned, looking over my shoulders, trying to get a glimpse of the wonder that was going on behind me. Spontaneous twitches seemed to spasm just under my skin, tingling every nerve in my body. As I began to feel a bit light headed, I noticed the music.

A light strumming of a distant guitar, calling to me in the tender voice of my mama. As I approached, following the notes, as if they were stepping stones, the melody lifted me into the air like a hot air balloon, drifting on the gentle summer breeze, over a crystal clear fountain.

And that's when I saw them, the most beautiful wings I had ever seen, in the reflection of the babbling water. They were mine and I was flying. Again, I heard the gentle voice of my mama floating in the air, directing me to a field of wildflowers filling a vast meadow. As I got closer I could see the tombstones. An alabaster white stone completely enveloped in fragrant flowers.

I felt my body gently flutter, landing onto the cool, smooth stone. As I gained my bearings, I could read the writing so eloquently carved into that beautifully silent monument. I knew where I was.

My bare-feet lightly touched down onto the soft green grass and I found myself mysteriously standing face to face with my mother.

She had passed, peacefully eight years earlier, leaving me devastated, begging for one more moment, and now, here she was! I reached out and ran my fingers across her smooth porcelain skin, she looked to be about 23.

As I pulled her into an embrace, I heard a familiar voice calling to me, from behind, it was my father, and he was standing with his arms wide open, stronger than I had seen him in many years. "How can this be," I cried?

After a short while, mama and daddy sat me down and tried their best to explain to me the magic of dimensional time travel. Daddy explained that dimensional time travel is possible by traveling to a higher dimension. My desire and strong emotion, combined with the long peaceful nap at the pier may have been all the energy I needed to transport.

I am still unsure how long I was gone, but when I awoke, I was face-up, laying safely on my blanket, stirred by a butterfly.

Did I time travel? My heart says, yes.

Was I traveling with the wings of a butterfly or was it something more, something from a higher dimension?

Either way, I was blessed to have had the experience. I look forward to our next visit and will leave that light on until the flaws are gone.