One day it finally dawned on me. It struck me like a thunderbolt right out of the blue, the time and the place where we had met before.  Of course it was in Greece, to be more precise, Ancient Greece. Yes it's quite clear to me now.  How could I ever have forgotten it? I must be losing my memory in my old age.

Around 500 B.C. we would gather with friends over a bottle of wine. Athens in those days was full of new ideas and philosophers. Of course you always took the side of the Cynics and you argued their viewpoint with great eloquence. I would take the opposite view and wasn't sure if my rebuttals were up to your skill level. As you know I would never give up and was always searching for something new to convince you.

Then, war took me away from you and no matter what hardship I faced, the thought of you carried me through. When I returned after five years, which seemed like eternity, there was no trace of you anywhere in Athens. I would walk the streets all day and night in my quest. Countless times, I thought that I had seen you and my heart would leap for joy. Then, I would run after you, but when I discovered my mistake, I would hide my head and try to hold back my bitter disappointment! At that time I felt that I was chasing a ghost or shadows..

Afterwards I was to learn we almost ran into each other in Florence during the Renaissance, or that time in Vienna listening to Mozart perform his latest opera. In this play we call life, we seem to have quite different roles and enter the stage in different scenes.

Last night when I close my eyes I saw two Monarch Butterflies, dancing and playing over a lush green meadow finally free, finally happy to live their own life!!!!