by Darkwing

Created on: December 27, 2007

On 10th September, 1989, my first Grandson was born. I went to the hospital to visit my daughter-in-law and to see Daniel, and when I arrived, my daughter-in-law was taking a bath, so the nurse told me to have a hold whilst Mummy was away. I took him in my arms a little mite, with a shock of black hair, and traces of blood still on his forehead. It was a magical moment in my life, to hold this little bundle.

As the years passed, Daniel and I formed a very strong bond he would come and stay with me, for weekends, or even a week at a time. He loved to stay with me... we did a lot of things together and spent a lot of quality time in each other's company.

On Christmas Eve, I always went to stay at my Son and Daughter-In-Law's family home, so that I could see Daniel and his Sister open their Christmas stockings and Santa Sacks. I'd sleep on the sofa, so that I was there when they came down in the morning, which was inevitably early. Then, that over, I would stay for dinner and tea, and we would exchange gifts after dinner. I really enjoyed those times, as did the children. They used to put on their Santa hats and hand out the presents from under the tree, and then sit on the floor and open their own.

In 1994, Daniel was diagnosed with cancer, and after some two and a half years of treatment and a lot of fretful times for the whole family, he gave up the fight, at 2.00 p.m. on 27th December, 1996, just seven years and three months old. He had managed to open all his presents and examine them, but only one had been played with the rest, were never touched.

The year following his passing, something quite strange happened. I went to bed, on Christmas Eve, or the early hours of Christmas morning, and was lying in bed, when I heard a fluttering noise, which disturbed me. It was pitch dark and quite cold too, so I wondered what it was, and after a while, when the fluttering didn't stop, I got out of bed and switched on the light. I looked around and beheld a Red Admiral Butterfly. Strange, I thought, at this time of the year, and flying in the dark. Normally butterflies are inanimate in the dark hours, or so I thought and I certainly wouldn't have expected to see one in the Winter. I decided to leave it until morning, when it settled on the top of the bedroom curtain. Then, when it was light, I thought, I could open the window and let it free. So, with that, I switched off the light and climbed back into bed.

I slept until about eight, and it was still quite dark, so I went

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