Water for Butterflies

     Of all the plants we received when Tracy died two years ago, only one remains. Frankly, I am a little surprised one managed to escape my Connie Kevorkian effect. I don't know the name of the plant, I simply think of it as the lone survivor. Because there were originally four plants in that pot, there is a lot of dead space. (Pun intended) Most of the floral arrangements we received incorporated fake butterflies, whose delicacy is not something I would  associate with our sturdy, mechanic son, but they are a good metaphor of one form changing into another more beautiful one. I knew if I tried to replace the dead plants in that pot, I would probably kill off the live one, so I used most of the leftover lepidoptira to cover the dead zones. I don't know if this will inspire lone survivor to keep going, or die and let the butterflies cover it too.

    Last year in a probably futile attempt to be less lethal to my plants, I bought plastic self-watering bulbs in hopes those inanimate items would be more conscientious than I am about my plants' water needs. All my granddaughters like the water bulbs, which I why I went with plastic. They especially like the part where they get to poke the tips into the soil because poking things into plants is something they would not ordinarily be allowed to do. So when I had three year old Ren for Grandma day this week, she brought me the bulbs to fill with water. But she did not know the water was for the plant, she thought it was to give the butterflies a drink. Leave it to a child to see beyond the lonely plant and mostly lifeless planter to the beauty within it, and the blessing of bringing water for butterflies.