Image via Wikipedia

She stood facing the tombstone. This was the first time in eight years she has had the chance to visit her mother. Immediately she began howling and crying. The sobbing couldn’t stop. The tears came, something that hadn’t happened in eight years. In eight years, she fed and clothed her daughter through high school and supported her through college. She grew vegetables in her garden every summer. She bled uncontrollably as she reached the start of menopause. The doctors found something growing in her uterus. They pulled it out. She cried when her only daughter threatened to kill herself, wondering what she could have possibly done to have raised her only child so wrong. Through all her pain, she wanted to see her mother. And now she did. A red-orange butterfly flew over and landed on an evergreen by the tombstone. A stone lion on either side stood on its haunches, guarding with fierce eyes. The butterfly fluttered and stayed in one place. Its wings moved slowly, but it did not catch her eye.