Sally's Shoes

Hello friend, how are you? How’ve you been? I've been well, thanks for asking.

I’m writing today because I have an incredibly profound story to share with you. While you may choose to not believe it, I assure you it is one hundred percent true. I’ve been waiting to tell this story for months. I can’t not share it with you.

Last year I wrote about attending the Van Gogh exhibit and mentioned the artists whose work resonates with me. There is one artist in particular whose artwork I collect. He’s a prolific artist that works in a variety of mediums: prints, canvases, metal art, jewelry, figurines, ornaments, and more. I have been a collector of this artist’s work for more than a decade.

I have a friend that appreciates the work of this artist as well. I have given her two ornaments from this artist in the past. This past fall, I had the thought of purchasing an art print for my friend as a Christmas gift. I scoured the artist’s website until I found a print that I thought would be good for my friend. While looking through the website, I found a print for myself. I then ordered the prints online, for my friend and I, in plenty of time for Christmas.

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One thing that this artist does is include little cards and gifts for his customers. Truth be told, as I’ve ordered so many of his art pieces over the years, I look forward to the gifts he sends as much as the art pieces!

Upon receiving my order, I couldn’t wait to open it. I quickly and carefully opened the envelope from the artist, and found a large packet within. On the top of the packet, I found an envelope with my name on it. I opened the envelope quickly but carefully, excited to see what gifts were inside. I then pulled out the contents of the envelope, a small pile of gifts. On top of the gifts was a shoe. Well, a die cut greeting card, in the shape of a shoe.

This may sound completely peculiar but believe me when I tell you that I knew immediately that the shoe in this packet from this artist was, in actuality, a greeting card. You see, I’d received a similar greeting card several years before, from my friend Sally.

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Sally is a special friend, a former coworker of mine. She passed away in 2011. She has been the subject of many of my writings, and lives with my friend Luna in the moon. (In my mind, of course.)

It may be a bizarre thought, and might be hard to picture, a greeting card in the shape of a shoe. This is no ordinary shoe. It’s not a boot, not a sneaker, nor a high heel. Instead, it is a woman’s shoe, an ornate shoe, of a different era. It has a clunky heel and is perfectly decorated. If it were an actual shoe that someone would wear, it would be a shoe of another time, or perhaps part of an elaborate bohemian costume.....

"Sally's Shoe" by Esperanza Habla

When I saw the shoe greeting card, in the packet of gifts, I couldn’t believe it. It was “needle scratching the record” moment, as if all the air had been suddenly sucked out of the room. I was so fixated on the shoe that my world went into a pause. I think my brain forgot to tell my body to breathe for a few seconds.

I remember suddenly being swept into a maelstrom of thoughts…

What’s this shoe doing in this packet? I got a shoe from Sally, years ago…

This packet just came in the mail….

What is this shoe doing here?....

There is no way for this artist 

to have known that Sally also sent me this card….

There is no way that this is happening….

Is it the same shoe?… 

How could there be two shoes?...

How is any of this happening?

Minutes later, when I regained the power of thought, I looked at the other gifts the artist had sent. There I found a butterfly magnet, in a small drawstring bag, with gold stars and moons.

"Butterfly Magnet in Moon Bag"

Again, I was struck by the symbolism of the moment. I have dubbed myself the Poet of the Moon. My publishing company is La Luna Press. “Luna”, Spanish for Moon. Again, I found myself lost in thought...

There is no way for this artist to know of my love of the moon…

or that my business name has the moon….

or that my logo has a moon….. 

Why did he enclose this butterfly magnet in this bag?....

Why did he send me a butterfly magnet?.....

This is not happening by accident…..

This is not a coincidence….

This is happening for a reason….

What is the message?.....

What is the universe trying to tell me?

When I again returned to the power of thought, I opened the art prints I had purchased. They were wrapped in craft paper, with cardboard sheets in place to protect each piece. I was eager to open each print. It’s one thing to see a piece of art online-it’s completely another to hold it in your hand and see it in person.

The art prints were incredible, as I knew they would be. Each print was matted, ready for framing. The prints had been embellished by the artist, with fine lines of gold metallic ink, to highlight different areas of the art piece. I then noticed that the artist had personalized the art print for my friend, writing her name on the artwork in the same ink. I was so impressed that the artist took the time to personalize the print for my friend. The artist did that for me as a courtesy, completely free of charge.

The shoe card reverberated in my thoughts, as did the butterfly magnet, and the small bag with golden moons. I couldn’t stop thinking about the experience, and about my friend Sally.

I know Sally sent me a card that was a shoe…

Do I still have it?...

She sent me dozens of cards in the years that I knew her….

I kept some of the cards she sent me…. 

I wonder if I still have the card…. 

If I do still have it, where would it be?!?

That night, as I drove home from work, I made the decision to find the shoe. I arrived home, started dinner, and then began the task of searching for the shoe from my friend Sally. If I had indeed kept it, I was determined that I was going to find it, by hook or crook. I was a woman on a mission. I began to search through my greeting cards and photographs from years gone by. Again, I had a stream of thoughts running through my brain…

Where is it?...It has to be here….

I have to find it…I have to know….

Is it here?...Did I keep it?….

I didn’t keep every card she gave me....

Is this where I put it?....

I’ve got to know if I still have it….

Please God let me still have it…

It didn’t take long before my question was answered. Miraculously, I found Sally’s shoe!! Sally had sent me a greeting card that was a shoe. I hadn’t imagined it, or remembered incorrectly. I literally held the proof in my hands. It truly was a miracle to find that shoe. Perhaps even more miraculously, I had kept it.

When I found the shoe card that Sally sent me all those years ago, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I then took a moment to process everything that was happening. I sat down, opened the shoe, and read Sally’s message to me, from all those years ago. There was no date on the verse within. However, if I had to guess, I would put it at a few months before she died.

I then took Sally’s shoe to the packet of gifts I had received from the artist, to compare it with the shoe in my packet of gifts. To my profound amazement, it was the same shoe!! 

I stood there completely gobsmacked, in stunned silence. Again, I think I forgot to breathe for a few minutes. Yet again, I found myself in a whirlwind of thought.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the significance of the significance of the shoes. I thought about the butterfly magnet in the drawstring bag. I thought about the golden stars and moon shapes on the drawstring bag. What did this all mean? What was the significance of this unlikely coincidence?!?

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It’s been about nine months since I ordered the art prints. Since then, I have seen butterflies everywhere I look. In stores, on clothes, kitchenware, furniture, and more. I’ve seen butterflies in TV shows, movies, advertisements, literally everywhere. I met a friend of a friend, and she had a butterfly ring on her finger. Butterflies have been appearing before me everywhere!! Everywhere I look. It is no coincidence. I’ve been listening to the Universe for the message. I even spoke aloud, saying, “I know there is a significance to what you are showing me. I don’t know what the message is yet, but I’m listening.”

In trying to figure out this universal mystery, I looked up the symbolism of butterflies. I found somewhat simple answers to the meaning-transformation, growth, renewal, and change. Butterflies can also symbolize change through introspection and learning through self-reflection. It can also be symbolic of a great awakening, awareness, and transformation. A butterfly can also symbolize hope, a concept I am quite familiar with.

Writer Matthew Wilson wrote about the butterfly, sharing that Aristotle….
“….made the first recorded instance of the word ‘psyche’, meaning the human spirit or soul…In Greek myth, Psyche, the goddess of the soul, is often depicted with a butterfly.”
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210915-butterflies-the-ultimate-icon-of-our-fragility

Writer Sarah Regan shared this on the Mind Body Green website:
“As author Erika Buenaflor, M.A., puts it in her book, ‘Animal Medicine’, butterflies also symbolize rebirth, hope, and bravery. Seeing one is a sign that positive change is transpiring, and brave forces are watching over you and ensuring graceful transitions. The butterfly encourages you to flow through your transformation with confidence…..”
https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/butterfly-symbolism

I have been pondering this mystery for months now. Once I figured it out, butterflies stopped appearing before me. I don't need them now; I finally understand the message from the universe:
 
*The shoe is a message from my friend Sally. It wouldn’t have a significance for anyone else but me.

*I imagine Sally to be living on the moon, with my literary friend Luna. The drawstring pouch, or bag, had moons on it.

*What was in the bag? A butterfly. What do butterflies symbolize? Transformation, hope, growth, and change. It can also mean that there are those on the other side that are guiding one to their true and higher self. 

Putting everything together, it all makes sense. My friend Sally, who lives on the moon, sent me a message. Apparently, I’m about to undergo a transformation in my life. She’s watching over me, guiding me, and will be with me every step of the way. I'm in good stead for the journey ahead.

Sally, my friend, thank you for being in my life. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for sending me the butterflies, and thank you for sending me your shoes. 

"The Shoes" by Esperanza Habla