The Butterfly

I'm still giggling over the phone conversation I had with Marlan a few weeks ago. If you know Marlan, you'll know why.

She was lamenting the fact that she had promised to drive a friend to an appointment and back the next morning. The commitment would last about 4 hours. None of her other friends were in a position to extend this help to the girl for one reason or another. She was just realizing that this meant that she could not take off to her boyfriend's house right now like she really wanted to.

I specifically remember her asking: "I mean, when did I become 'The Responsible One'?" When indeed?

Our adventurous, fun-loving, dramatic Marlan has travelled a long, windy road of less-than-logical decisions and their consequences. We finally learned that a lot of her erratic behavior was being caused by MS. Unfortunately, her self-perception suffered as well as just about everything else.

She has worked really hard and overcome tremendous obstacles and struggles during the past few years. She has made a lot of progress towards creating a stable, productive, and meaningful life. Which is what we all strive for in this life, isn't it?

Marlan has always been smart. Sometimes too smart (for her parents!). But now she is able to harness all that brain power and focus it on her goals. MS had been robbing her of that. Our most recent conversation involved how she is working on tackling calculus and juggling a full load of classes and a part time job. Calculus?, yes, of course you have to pass calulus when you're majoring in Chemistry. What? Isn't that just about the hardest major in the college catalog?

Marlan recently started a new medication which seems to be a game-changer for her. She feels better and seems to have more stamina than she has in the past. Such a blessing!

Reclaiming faith in herself and in her Divine Nature as a daughter of God has been challenging. I want her to know how very proud her family is of her and how important she is to us. And I know His love for her dwarfs even ours.

One of the most amazing things to watch in nature is the butterfly emerging from her cocoon. We are in awe...