Butterflies

I was asked recently by my card making friends why I always place a butterfly on my cards; they jokingly call me the "Butterfly Lady." It made me stop and think because until recently butterflies were just a beautiful creation that I enjoyed looking at but did not think of as something that symbolize anything special to me until a last year. So why do I place butterflies on my cards or smile when I think of them?
To me they represent my life and the new journeys that I am taking. They represent the freedom and happiness that I feel. They are so beautiful with the colors symmetrically displayed on their wings, the flittering from flower to flower. floating in the breeze with the world beckoning them below. I know that is not really their lives but to me it is.
When we were children I am sure many of us chased the elusive butterfly as it danced in the air. flittering away the sunny day in a garden of brightly colored flowers, tasting the sweet nectar they offered. We learned to in school how to make art forms that were to symbolize them by putting paint on one side of piece of folded paper and then put the two sides together, gently rub  and then open it up to see our creations.
As we out grow our childish fascinations of these majestic wonders so do the flights of fancy that we associate with them seem to vanish. So again it must be asked why now in this stage of my life do I think of the butterfly as a symbol for my life?
Recently, (ok it seems recently-my how time flies when I am having fun) I was divorced and as I recovered from it I discovered the realization that I had new freedoms and new journeys awaiting me. My wings spread and the flittering from the flowers in the garden of life have given me a renewed sense that is like the sweet nectar the butterflies partake in. I did not plan on this at this stage of my life but am so enjoying the trips. To me the butterfly represents a rebirth or at least a renewed life of opportunities to flutter in the breeze, flitter from flower to flower and see the world as a garden of sweet nectars that await me.