Butterfly Art

The Butterfly never draws pictures or makes cards for me; whatever she does she does for her favourite parent! The Mauritian’s bed side draw is filled to bursting with drawings and cards she had made for him over the years, he will not throw a single one away. I think it’s really cute, I remember how special it felt giving something I drew or made to my clever dad, he always made me feel like it was the best gift he had ever received. I know the Butterfly feels exactly the same way because the Mauritian is always so enthusiastic about her little gifts. I remember too looking through my clever dad’s bedside cupboard for something and finding numerous birthday and father’s day cards I made him through the years. After the initial feelings of embarrassment and wondering why he still had those silly things I realised hey he’s kept them all regardless of how awful they were. Now that’s an awesome realisation and one I treasure still. There really is something very special about the relationship between a father and a daughter and I am thrilled my children and their father will know that too. I enjoy the fact that the Butterfly is obsessed with drawing things for her father and I like watching how they interact with one another. Of course the Butterfly knows she has her Papa wrapped very tightly around her little finger and so does the Mauritian, they both seem very comfortable with the arrangement!

So imagine my surprise and delight when one wet windy World’s end Sunday the Butterfly came running into the lounge with a drawing just for me. She drew a lot of birds around my “likeness” and gave me a smile, long multicoloured hair, long arms and legs and a big tummy inside which there is some yellow squiggles. This is how she explained it to me: There are lots of birds because I like birds and always give them our bread. I have long hair because I like long hair and my arms are long because I can reach really, really high up. Inside my tummy are the Butterfly and the Lollipop before they “just popped out!” I was amazed, and touched all at the same time at the amount of thought that went into this piece of art work. Now I know that one could get into the psychology behind the drawing and break it down and try and get inside her head. I don’t want to do that, it is obvious that the pregnancy and Lollipop’s birth had a major impact on her. It is obvious she delights in the cacophony of bird song that surrounds our house in the mornings as the birds gather to fight over the scraps of bread I throw out for them every morning. I chose to believe she has seen me smile more then scowl. I chose to believe that she likes the idea of having spent nine months in utero. I am super stoked with my picture and it has pride of place on our fridge at the moment and soon it will be framed and hanging on a wall. It may be the only picture she’ll ever draw especially for me.

So there we were on that wet windy World’s end Sunday exclaiming in delight over this wonderfully thoughtful gift to me from my Butterfly, the Mauritian and I exchanging smiles and silent wows. The Butterfly enthusiastically explaining it to us and obviously thrilled at my reaction when suddenly she exclaimed: “Oh no Mum I forgot to draw your boobs!” grabbing the picture from my hand she charged off to her bedroom.

I chose not to consider the psychology behind that.