1.1 BUTTERFLIES

"I will marry you."

Those words were from an innocent young boy at the age of six who thought he had found his first love to a girl who was the same age as him. Her name was Lucy. She got long curly brown hair, cute little brown eyes and fair skin.

They had grown up together in the church, and had known each other since they were three years old. Funny how they almost had something in common since then and would always play together along with her best friend, Mei mei.

Daniel was one who loved playing rough and yet when it came to Lucy, he was very gentle. He would often tease her to the extent that she would show him her little pout and that would make Daniel laughed harder.

They had been playmates and friends especially when Meimei moved to California. They became much closer than before. Always playing hide and seek and now joined by his older brother, Timothy.

"I like Lucy, Mom," Daniel told me one night before bedtime. I loved this talks with my son where he would open up to me and tell me his little secrets. I knew there would come a time I won't be able to have this small talks especially when he was a grown man. But of course, I still looked forward to it in the future.

"I want to marry her," he added. His innocence alone make my heart melt. The sincerity in his voice made me think what kind of a man he would become someday. A man who could grow up to be caring and loving just like me and his father.

"Well, you need to grow up first to marry her," I told him.

"Why?"

"Because you still need to go to school, and when you finished school then you would find a stable job. You need to make Lucy your friend and then someday maybe you can marry her."

His eyebrows furrowed a bit, thinking. I left him to ponder about these things as I kissed him goodnight.

One day, I saw him drawing some butterflies on a piece of paper and I asked who it would be for. I was expecting it would be for me but instead he answered...

"For Lucy."

I smiled as I watched him draw those beautiful colorful butterflies on a white paper folded as a card.

The next Sunday, he gave it to her as he smiled happily. Lucy who was unaware of what was going on just bounced happily towards him.

"This is for you, Lucy," he said as his smiled brightly. I could see his eyes twinkled into the bright light in the children's classroom as Lucy took it from his hand.

"What's this?" Lucy asked innocently.

"A card with butterflies," he told her.

Lucy was not fond of butterflies but she accepted it anyway as I and her mother stood to watch. She opened the card and smiled awkwardly as Daniel beamed brightly.

"Thank you," replied Lucy.

"I will marry you, Lucy," he announced as Sarah, Lucy's mother and I looked at each other. I was about to apologize but Lucy's mother just laughed it off.

"So cute," she mused as she continued to watch her daughter's surprised reaction. The girl's eyebrows knitted together as she stared at my son. Perhaps confused on what he had just said.

I thought, 'Wow! That was some confession.'

If only adults would be as bold as my son, then maybe there would be a lot of us who would not be confused of the other's feelings.

I smiled, remembering how my husband and I had met. How I was crying as I nervously admitted to him how I was in love with him.... that after several months of trying to win my heart, he had finally did...

And the first time we kissed was something I would always remember. Like Daniel's drawings, I felt those butterflies flutter about, and my heart had skipped a bit. I knew from there that I had finally found the person for me.

My only love, Christopher....

The father of my two sons...

And even now after being married for nine years, I still felt those butterflies every time we kissed or even just hugging each other...

Those butterflies never left... it actually grew more inside of me as time passed and our love never failed nor faltered...

"I will marry you," he whispered. "I am not the same as those guys who left you. I will stay with you."

And so he did...