A woman from Detroit once shared: “I’m working with children who are dying of leukemia. I was working with Jim who was eleven years old and Jim got very sick and he said, ‘When I die, cast my ashes on Lake Michigan.’”
“Well Jim died and his parents and Charlie, Jim’s five year old brother, went out on Lake Michigan. They had a nice, old, green boat with a motor and they cast Jim’s ashes.”
“Jim’s mother said, ‘Look at that butterfly! Isn’t that colourful? That’s Jim!’”
“They went out again and the Mother said, ‘Oh, it’s a monarch butterfly. It’s Jim!’”
“Another time they were on the beach and Charlie, the five year old had a stick and Charlie was stirring up the sand and an old grey moth flew up and he said, ‘Look! That’s Jim but he’s wearing a different shirt!’”
“What an image for death—wearing a different shirt!”
This story was told on National Public Radio and Jim’s Dad called and he said, ‘You know, when Charlie said, He’s wearing a different shirt, that was the beginning of a long process of healing."
