My Mom would have been 85 years old this year if she had lived. She gave birth to me 3 weeks after her 30th birthday but passed away when she was only 55. It was heartbreaking losing her when I was only 25 years old. I felt like I had just started to grow up and get to know Mom as a real person and not just a mother. I had hoped for many years of loving friendship with her but it was not to be.

Now I am the same age that she was when she died. Her grandchildren are all grown adults. Thirty years have passed but at times it still feels like yesterday that she was with us. I remember that I hated not having her here to watch her grandchildren grow up. I used to tell my daughter that her grandma was still watching over her from Heaven and perhaps her spirit was even catching a ride on a butterfly’s wing to watch her up close. And it seems like every time I said it too a butterfly would float by us and circle around before flying away. Then we would laugh and our hearts would be filled with love.

This year I noticed my Mom’s birthday on the calendar. I still wrote it down every year even though I never forgot it. I wondered if I might see a butterfly that day to once again remind me that she was watching over me with love. It was still dark on her birthday as I leashed up my dogs for their morning walk. I flicked the porch light on and walked outside. As soon as my pups finished doing their business we walked back in. As I closed the door, however, two moths fluttered into the house and flew around my head. I smiled and thanked Mom for not even waiting until the sun was up to remind me that I was watched over and loved. I gently caught the two moths and released them back outside with a smile on my face and a song in my heart.

Always keep your heart and mind open to messages of love from above. God, the angels, and our passed loved ones all love us and are watching over us. And the reminders of their love are all around us. We just need to recognize them, even when they are a couple of moths