Yellow butterflies

Well, my brother Jim and his wife laurie came down from Fishers, Indiana this weekend with their son Reid. It was nice because I hadn't seen them in three years, since we buried our dad. Dad's death was hard for me. He was very ill for quite a while and on dialysis three times a week. I didn't get to see him much because he lived in Florida and money was tight. When my stepmother made the decision to stop his dialysis and bring him home under hospice care, I really couldn't fault her for it. He was tired, miserable, and ready to go. I drove to Florida and arrived just a few hours before he came home from the hospital. We all knew it would only be a matter of days without dialysis before all his body functions shut down. He was in pain from the bedsores he had acquired and barely lucid. I told him I was there and I loved him. He told me he loved me and that was the last conversation we had. Jim arrived a day or so later. Dad knew he was there, but wasn't lucid enough to speak. I kept him on morphine (provided by hospice) around the clock. That Friday, May 13th, I finally whispered to him that it was ok to go...that mom was waiting for him. My mom passed in 1988, but that's a whole other story. A few hours later he was gone. I went out to the carport and sat down to cry and lit up a cigarette. It was late...around 9pm or so....and dark outside. As I sat there crying and smoking, I wondered if he was with mom. Just then, two yellow butterflies came into the carport and began fluttering around. It almost looked like they were dancing with each other. I knew then that was my sign that mom and dad were together again. I thought of those butterflies as my parents spirits, together again at last. Today, as I was talking to Jim outside my son's house, a yellow butterfly flitted between us. I had been thinking about dad all morning, and again, I think that was his way of letting me know he was there with us.