The Butterflies of December

 

For a moment, I had thought we were finally getting a white Christmas in the tropics.

It was ten years ago, in December 2011, right after the Great Flood of that year forced us to move up to the second-floor because our first-floor living quarters were knee-deep in floodwater. 

Although during the wintertime days I wear only swim trunks and flip-flops at home, I was still aware that it was the Christmas season.  Traditional western carols played in shopping malls, with holiday trees and Santa hats.  You cannot escape it, even here. 

After moving upstairs in 2011, one thing different – and really great – was that in this second-floor room we had a window!  I could see the Moon, when it was phased right, and also the trees and shrubs outside. 

One morning, I partially woke, and from my bed saw the tree outside.  Not having my glasses on, it was a bit fuzzy.  I saw specks of white fluttering over the tree, and assumed these were surely the first flakes of a coming snowstorm – which I’d formerly been quite accustomed to at this time of year.  I thought, “Ah, it’s snowing outside, and we’ll have a white Christmas!” 

But as I became more fully awake, I realized: “It doesn’t snow in Thailand.”  WTF?  I put on my glasses and focused.  Those specks of fluttering white were butterflies! 

I’m speculating here, but I think these particular white butterflies, with their sudden noticeable abundance, are seasonal migrants, flying down to our tropics from colder climes in northern Asia.  I never seem to notice them the rest of the year.  I started seeing them more again this November, and a few more as December matured.  Now, at Christmastide, I see a lot more of them. 

They are my Christmas ornaments. 

-Zenwind. 

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