Last Monday, Himself was off work and sent me a message to let me know I had a mysterious package from someone I didn't know in a shiny purple box. I was intrigued all day so I rushed home to open it and solve the mystery.
My very lovely friend, Ms R-J (yes, you, and I know you're still ill and are therefore probably crying as you read this!) had been putting up with my melancholy mood and had taken it upon herself to do something about it. In the shiny purple box -- my favourite colour, not sure how the person who sent it knew! -- was a spare smile for me to use when mine goes missing.
The idea of having a spare smile appeals to me. I have been wearing it every day and it's been serving its purpose in that every time I hear it rattle, I remember the lovely thing my friend did for me, and I smile. The concept is also bouncing around in my head sparking off a few ideas for stories; something may come of it, or it may not but I will certainly never forget that I have much better friends than I'm sure I deserve.
The second thing that has captured my butterfly mind this week came from the book I am currently reading, Pandeamonium by Christopher Brookmyre. It's a fabulous read, very funny in places, although if you're not familiar with Scots slang, you may well need a translator to get through it! The book centres on a group of Glasgow teenagers from a Catholic school who are sent away to a retreat in the Scottish Highlands to try to come to terms with the deaths of two of their classmates, one of whom stabbed the other and then killed himself.
When they are talking about what happened, the class science geek puts forward the notion that since the earth was spat out of a star when it went supernova, we are all made of stardust.
I know it's not a new idea, but it's not one I'd ever heard before - or if I had, it hadn't stuck in my head for some reason. I think it's possibly one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard, and it fits in very nicely with my own personal spiritual beliefs.
And it got me thinking about our importance. When you think about the vastness of the universe, it's very easy to feel insignificant, but if we are made of the same stuff as the stars around us, then perhaps we are just small parts of the magnificent whole which are needed to make the whole thing work. Like the facets on a diamond, something has to reflect the light in order to make it sparkle.
And maybe, just maybe, at some point or another in our lives, we will all shine.
What do you think?
*sniff*
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