and discovered a battered butterfly net. I know that in many traditions, the butterfly symbolizes transition, turning as they do from caterpillar to butterfly, so I wondered why I was being shown the net.
Nets have been a big part of my last few weeks since the World Cup is at center stage in our household. I love experiencing that rush of emotion when a team, after long displays of strategy and inspiration, finally gets that ball into the net. And winning a game! What a high for the triumphant and what a low for the losers, for both players and fans.
And then . . .and then life goes on. That trip to the mountain top that involved such an arduous climb is done. The view is spectacular, but you can't stay there. Back down the mountain you must go. I apologize for mixing my metaphors here, but it's like catching a butterfly in the net. After a lot of chasing we've finally got this thing of beauty and we want to preserve it. Oddly enough, we do this by killing it, sticking a pin in it and putting it in a case.
In the same way, we try to hold on to our peak experiences. We save our trophies, letter sweaters, photos corsages and love notes. They represent a time when we felt great. We try to keep that time alive through our conversation and our collections, but we end up sucking the life out of them. We can't keep reliving the wonders of our past with any authenticity. Life does go on and so must we!
Enjoy your butterfly moments. Then let them go. The quicker you do this, the sooner you'll be ready for the next beautiful moment to flit by.
