A Butterfly Saturday ~

I love Saturdays and all the pleasure they can bring to our work week. I know for many it is just another work day, as their job demands it to be. I've been on both sides of the work fence when it comes to how they are used. For many years I worked in a hospital setting which required that I work every other weekend. My husband has been a firefighter our whole marriage and has had to work either Friday, Saturday, or Sunday of every weekend. When I retired in 2003 from the hospital it opened up my use of Saturday. Matter of fact it opened up my week to a whole new way of living, but that is a story for another day. Needless to say I have always appreciated the days of the weekend for the freedom they have offered.

I've tried over the years to keep them free of anything that resembled the rest of my work week. Ask any person you know or meet about their week and all will tell you they are looking forward to the weekend. To have the opportunity to change their structured routine for a more free flowing lazy one. Our lives can become so hectic than we need and desperately crave some regular downtime. Hence the anticipation of the 60+ hours labeled the weekend. That is if these precious hours are not filled to the brim with more busy activity.

Personally I have to guard mine for it far too easy to see them as catch-up time for "_____." Instead of the free days they could be for P.P.P.'s (pleasantly personal pursuits) Living on a farm as we do makes taking the whole day off not a possibility. The critter family gets a little cranky if they miss mealtimes. So the regular daily critter care is done as early as we can bring ourselves to get started. The benefit is the sooner we start, the quicker the "rest" of the day can begin.

Today broke sunny and warm bringing all the butterflies out of their slumber. To warm themselves on rock and branches before searching for a meal. Watching them closely will reveal that even though they are up. They are happily lounging lazily on leafy beds, flapping their wings slowly as if stretching themselves in preparation for the day ahead. Once thoroughly warmed, energized by the sun and limbered up, they begin the beautiful dance on wing. Flitting first to this flower then the next. Taking a rest on a stem or branch before taking off to soar through the new day. Before spying a treat just down the garden path. Carefree, pursuing personal pursuits, sipping here, resting there. No agenda but to meet their physical needs and enjoy the day as it unfolds. Butterflies don't have a long life you see, they live them out in just one season of our year. In essence they don't have time to waste, that is if they are to fulfill their purpose as butterflies. Pollinating the blooms of our flowers and vegetables. Insures that their will be flowers again next year and a larger veggie crop this year. Their brilliant beauty is pleasing to the eye and adds a rainbow of movement to our yard and garden.

There is much to learn from their antics as beautiful winged messengers. To emulate their example would do much to slow our pace, refocus our minds and give us back our days of leisure. Today looks like a good day for practicing flitting through my day, having a care free attitude and claiming this Saturday for P.P.P."s.

Butterflies color our world with their ways - do we?

Deborah