Post by Summer on Apr 15, 2011 13:50:10 GMT -5
When I was still on my vacation in Montana during the fall of 2010, my family there and I went to Glacier National Park for a picnic and a hike. It happened to be the morning after my Aunt Laura and I had attended a Blackfeet Sweat Lodge Ceremony. Amazingly enough, while I was hiking on a trail that was cool enough on it's own because a fire about 5 years ago had burnt all of the old growth forest, and a new one had been planted, I had a Monarch butterfly land on my hand and stay with me for over 10 minutes during my hike!!!
I have never heard of this happening to anyone before, and being the way I am I figured it was a sign of sorts I needed to pay attention to. But then again I have always really respected the way the Native Americans see the world, and they also believe that way. So the message I hoped the butterfly had for me was that more good health was coming my way in the future. But I was wondering how things were going to develop for me even if I was right about the "message" because of what a butterfly has to go through in order to get the wings it needs to be able to fly.
As many of you know, within a week I had a brain aneurysm the size of a golf ball form in my brain and start to leak! So the hospital in Montana put me on a leer jet and sent me back to Seattle, WA, to a hospital that specializes in this sort of problem. At least I got a fast and free ride home, eh?
I ended up getting very lucky and after surgery and a few days in a fog, I started to recuperate rapidly enough that I kept getting chastised by my ICU nurses for getting out of bed to do things on my own, LIL! So 15 days later they sent me home, thank heavens, as it can get pretty boring in the hospital when one doesn't enjoy TV much, which I don't. I want to thank all of you who sent me emails, cards and yes, even gifts!!! I was surprised by how much so many of you cared about me! It really helped me to feel much better.
Thank heavens I am a crocheter, so I had already finished one hat by the time they let me go home. While I was hiking, I moved my hand around and up and down to see if it would scare the butterfly off, and nothing I did could scare it away from me! Then, it flew off of my hand and landed immediately on the part of my spine that has been hurting me pretty badly for well over a decade. After staying on my back for a moment, it flew off there and landed on my chest where I have also been hurting for so very long. My cousin got pictures of those landings too, but she hasn't emailed me those yet. I thought the fact that the butterfly landed on the 2 spots on my body that have been hurting me so very long might have meant something as well.
Let me tell you... if I ever have another butterfly land on me and stay for that long again, I will know to prepare for a bout with some sort of problem or illness that will change my world drastically, and will cause things to improve. I have to admit I wish I would have known at the time the butterfly befriended me that I was going to end up in the hospital scaring my loved ones so badly. But believe it or not, things have improved markedly for me with my relationships I share with my family members, I was was very surprised to have so many of them show up at the hospital to see me so often as well. My youngest Daughter Amber was there for me as much as possible, signing all of my paperwork, etc., which was very stressful for her. Her baby is only 5 months old, but she still insisted on spending the night with me at the hospital every night that no one else could so I wouldn't be alone.
She has even moved back home for now to help me to keep the house up etc., as she knows that I need to take it easy for a bit. I am very proud of her! She is a great, natural Mother sort of like I was, as her baby daughter McKenzie is the love of her life. Now I can really see how much like me she is, and in my opinion, that is a real joy. I have come out of this experience with a brand new outlook on life, appreciating every day that I have here rather than being so incredibly depressed all of the time. One cannot ask for more than that. A more positive outlook on life itself can be an invaluable thing! Now I truly believe that somehow that butterfly friend of mine gave me some "butterfly medicine" to help me make it through my up and coming health problems. Which I am sure it did. I am very grateful to the ancestors/Grandparents for sending the butterfly as well as to the butterfly itself.
I have never heard of this happening to anyone before, and being the way I am I figured it was a sign of sorts I needed to pay attention to. But then again I have always really respected the way the Native Americans see the world, and they also believe that way. So the message I hoped the butterfly had for me was that more good health was coming my way in the future. But I was wondering how things were going to develop for me even if I was right about the "message" because of what a butterfly has to go through in order to get the wings it needs to be able to fly.
As many of you know, within a week I had a brain aneurysm the size of a golf ball form in my brain and start to leak! So the hospital in Montana put me on a leer jet and sent me back to Seattle, WA, to a hospital that specializes in this sort of problem. At least I got a fast and free ride home, eh?
I ended up getting very lucky and after surgery and a few days in a fog, I started to recuperate rapidly enough that I kept getting chastised by my ICU nurses for getting out of bed to do things on my own, LIL! So 15 days later they sent me home, thank heavens, as it can get pretty boring in the hospital when one doesn't enjoy TV much, which I don't. I want to thank all of you who sent me emails, cards and yes, even gifts!!! I was surprised by how much so many of you cared about me! It really helped me to feel much better.
Thank heavens I am a crocheter, so I had already finished one hat by the time they let me go home. While I was hiking, I moved my hand around and up and down to see if it would scare the butterfly off, and nothing I did could scare it away from me! Then, it flew off of my hand and landed immediately on the part of my spine that has been hurting me pretty badly for well over a decade. After staying on my back for a moment, it flew off there and landed on my chest where I have also been hurting for so very long. My cousin got pictures of those landings too, but she hasn't emailed me those yet. I thought the fact that the butterfly landed on the 2 spots on my body that have been hurting me so very long might have meant something as well.
Let me tell you... if I ever have another butterfly land on me and stay for that long again, I will know to prepare for a bout with some sort of problem or illness that will change my world drastically, and will cause things to improve. I have to admit I wish I would have known at the time the butterfly befriended me that I was going to end up in the hospital scaring my loved ones so badly. But believe it or not, things have improved markedly for me with my relationships I share with my family members, I was was very surprised to have so many of them show up at the hospital to see me so often as well. My youngest Daughter Amber was there for me as much as possible, signing all of my paperwork, etc., which was very stressful for her. Her baby is only 5 months old, but she still insisted on spending the night with me at the hospital every night that no one else could so I wouldn't be alone.
She has even moved back home for now to help me to keep the house up etc., as she knows that I need to take it easy for a bit. I am very proud of her! She is a great, natural Mother sort of like I was, as her baby daughter McKenzie is the love of her life. Now I can really see how much like me she is, and in my opinion, that is a real joy. I have come out of this experience with a brand new outlook on life, appreciating every day that I have here rather than being so incredibly depressed all of the time. One cannot ask for more than that. A more positive outlook on life itself can be an invaluable thing! Now I truly believe that somehow that butterfly friend of mine gave me some "butterfly medicine" to help me make it through my up and coming health problems. Which I am sure it did. I am very grateful to the ancestors/Grandparents for sending the butterfly as well as to the butterfly itself.