Yellow

Watching “You’ve Got Mail” for the nth time reminded me of the yellow butterflies that have seemed to be innocuously intruding into my days, a sign of something beautiful about to happen, perhaps, or some spirit making their presence felt, or just some random occurrence I have been over-reading into, I’ll never really know. It just makes me wonder, I guess. Because, really, did they all have to be yellow, or are most butterflies really yellow?

The first time was at a Starbucks in the middle of a bustling mall, where a yellow butterfly sat on the arm of the chair beside the friend I was having coffee with. Next, two yellow butterflies flitting together by the fire hydrant very near to where I was standing. Next, two butterflies, again--about two days after the butterflies-near-the-hydrant-day--one of which rested briefly on my right shoulder.  The friend I was chatting with said he was sorry he didn’t have a camera with him, he would’ve wanted to take a photo of me and the butterfly. I felt sorry, too. It was a real nice, pretty feeling, having a butterfly perched so trustingly on my shoulder.