Chasing Butterflies

 

 

On Monday's run with Tom, a monarch butterfly circled around us. We delighted in its beauty and felt blessed by its presence. We watched to see if it would light somewhere so we could take a picture of it but it kept freely flying. Tom chased after it and was able to capture it in flight:

In February of 2020, I was the guest speaker at the pre-race Pasta Dinner at the Hyannis Marathon Weekend. I was blessed to share the stage with Bill Rodgers.

He compared our experiences during childhood. While he chased butterflies experiencing the unbridled freedom of running, I worked to recover from having contracted childhood paralytic polio and then endured years of abuse at the hands of family members. Bill asked me how I was able to not be angry and bitter.

"I'd of been pretty pissed off if that would have happened to me," he said.

I shared how forgiveness and gratitude have been the lynch pins in my healing journey. After the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome, one would have thought that my life as I had known it was coming to an end. And it was! I took a leap of faith leaving behind my award winning career as a VA social worker just 3 years shy of retirement age. I started a regular practice of gratitude and wrote letters of forgiveness to my parents and grandmother. I went into a cocoon of healing harnessing the power of the mind/body connection to heal my life. What a magnificent woman emerged and continues to emerge from the cocoon crossing the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon after 7 hours and 49 minutes. I came from a messy family and my journey of transformation, like the butterfly's journey, was uncertain. But, like the butterfly, the moment I thought my life was over, I emerged into a new state of Being as a runner, poet, author, inspirational speaker and one whose been blessed to touch the lives of so many with my Spirit and my beauty.

Hyannis Marathon Weekend was our last major event before the pandemic. In many ways we have been in a cocoon, now trying out our new wings transformed by the events of the past 18 months. I have learned that freedom is a state of mind and being. Although cases may be on the rise, masks are the order of the day indoors and there's a plan for booster shots, I can fly freely through life taking time to appreciate the beauty and splendor that is all around me. 

I love the quote, "If nothing ever changed, there would be no butterflies."

The leaves are changing on the trees and there is a chill in the air as our once never ending summer yields to a new season. We continue to see butterflies in our yard and on our runs reminding us that life is always changing, that without change we would not transform and evolve becoming the beautiful Beings we are all meant to be and that the process of change can be messy and uncertain. When we hold fast to our faith and trust the journey, we can soar. 

From my heart to yours
In health and wellness,
Mary

My books to uplift and inspire you are available on Amazon.

Visit my website to learn more about my journey of transformation in the wake of paralytic polio and trauma to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond.

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