We kvetch about the way men want to solve everything, offer solutions when all you want them to do is listen and get it, have your back. Linda and I walk and talk. I tell her about my writing hiatus. I’m stuck, I say, need to give myself a respite, clear my head. “But what do I do when I’m not writing?” I ask, a rhetorical question to which I don’t expect an answer. “You should take up origami,” she says after a brief pause. I turn to her, aghast and see her wicked grin. We burst into riotous laughter. Later that day I google “easy origami” and find a two-minute butterfly. I cut a square out of a sheet of paper in my recycling basket and follow the step-by-step directions. First try, voila—a butterfly. I make a few more, bigger, smaller, a tiny one from a post-it note, and take the best of the bunch to Linda’s house. “I took your advice,” I say. More gleeful guffaws.

                                                                                                       time on my hands
                                                                                                       folding paper
                                                                                                       into visions

I buy a package of origami paper, multi-colored solids and prints, check a book out of the library. I make cranes, penguins, critters, some better than others. And more butterflies, a kaleidoscope, a bevy of butterflies. It’s a brief interlude, not a pastime, certainly not a replacement for writing, and I soon put it aside. Months later, I plan a Thanksgiving trip to Kansas to see my granddaughter. Due to complicated family circumstances, I haven’t seen her for several years, don’t know her well. A high-energy ten-going-on-sixteen, I worry about how we will connect. We talk shortly before my visit, and she tells me she will be working on a science project over the holiday weekend. She needs to make something related to bugs, like a wreath or mobile. Would I help her? “Sure, sounds like fun,” I say. “And I can show you how to make origami butterflies.” “Really? Cool!” she exclaims, and just like that, I’m in. 

                                                                                                  paper crane
                                                                                                  symbol for peace and hope
					                                                          winged messenger