The butterfly effect is an idea that is more commonly used in chaos theory. It shows that a small change can make much bigger changes happen; that one small incident can have a big impact in the future. The idea started from weather prediction.~From Simple English Wikipedia

Today I pulled out the box where I store the love letters Giovanni has sent me over the last twenty-two years. Things started so quietly, like the whisper of butterfly wings. I penned a letter in the days before email was the norm, and social media hadn't yet evolved. I slipped the letter in the mailbox, heard the swish of the envelope dropping down into the box with all the hundreds of other pieces of mail. No plan on ever hearing back. No expectation. An exercise in purging old feelings. Nostalgia released.

Then by some tsunami of chance, there was a reply echoing across the ocean. "I am here."

Today we sit on our deck, a single rose in a vase on the picnic table. We drink a glass of wine and make a toast to the "Day of the letter." We marvel that we've made it, still love each other. We've survived so many events over our history. Floods, hurricanes, 9/11, cancer. And now we survive Covid-19. One more occurrence to add to the ominous list.

I dumped out all the letters from the box onto the bed. Ran my fingers over the ink, the pastel stamps, read the words Giovanni wrote to me, and all I could think was that we'd been fortunate. Blessed. Looking at the stack of letters, it was as though I held our history in my hands--perhaps like I might hold a paper weight that had images captured underneath the glass. I observed the collage of words and pictures, grateful for the seasons of our love. The weight of God's mercy has held and holds our love in place. Love can be fragile, can blow away so easily with chaos that threatens to take us down. Yet our lives and love are preserved under the glass dome of God's protection.

I can merely breathe my thanks, my gratitude, my praise for the grace and goodness of God on this letter day.