BackDANCING DIVORCEE: The butterfly and the unicorn
Some endings aren’t endings, they are the beginnings of beginnings
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Once long ago, there was a person called Butterfly, who was blessed with being forever young. Then she, yes she, came across a bizarre emotion called love, which was sometimes strangely interlinked with a weird word called self-worth.
As she got to know this love better she got a bit addicted to its madness. The way it made her feel was unlike anything in this world. It was even better than the nectar from the flower that flowered once in twelve years.
After playing with love for sometime, one day, it suddenly stopped being fun. Not just that, her soul began to get these indelible stains that would hurt when she stroked it. Even bathing with a natural scrub and an apricot-strawberry bodywash didn’t help. Maybe they weren’t organic enough. These dark stains began to eat the insides of her Butterflyness quietly. There was nothing to be done, though she still smiled, the smile of the ageless.
As new age creatures like dating-games, compatibility-factors and what-do-you-teach-me began gnawing into her wings she found a transparent shell. It seemed safe and secure. She could happily roam around the world like before but this time she kept her wings safe. Passersby remarked on her Butterfly-like endearment. It didn’t help the stains though. They sat in her stroking the sadness.
Finally, after some years she met a unicorn who seemed just as rare. After spending time together, the Butterfly, gulping down her fear took out her shell and showed it to him. Much to her surprise and delight, he flung the shell far away with all his might. Her wings shivered in the wind, her stains almost faded with fright but her heart was warm.
They were together forever. Butterfly was just beginning to enjoy this shell-less life when the unicorn suddenly changed. Butterfly didn’t know why. She thought it was the diet and fired the cook. It didn’t work. The unicorn was turning into a different unicorn. Not the one she loved with all her heart and Butterflyness.
In this lost battle, she found refuge in nothing. After many, many days, it may have been years, the Butterfly finally had enough and decided to fly to a different place. As she waved goodbye to her unicorn, she noticed sadly he wasn’t even looking at her. He was already somewhere else where she wasn’t invited.
On her way to another somewhere she saw the shell the unicorn had thrown away. Though she was tempted, she decided not to fly down and take it. Her wings felt stronger now. It still carried a few scars of the old days but it didn’t bleed as much. Butterfly soon found a new place, which didn’t seem to have any unicorns. She decided to stop here for awhile. This place wasn’t the one she thought she would settle down in but she didn’t mind. She was discovering new, beautiful things in it everyday. Wasn’t that amazing?
That’s when Butterfly realised that some endings aren’t endings. They are the beginnings of beginnings. Her wings fluttered in approval. They now felt strong enough to fly anywhere in the world.
Goodbye and good luck to all you butterflies out there, reading this.
This is the last edition of the Dancing Divorcee series—a weekly happy, sad, funny, obnoxious blog on the misadventure called divorce by Arathi Menon.
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