Why a butterfly?

The most common question I receive about my book cover is... "Why a butterfly?" And there are three important reasons why...

First, a butterfly is knows for it's beauty and is viewed as very delicate, but what is a butterfly?

Well, the second reason is explained at the beginning of my book:

"Butterflies represent hope, happiness and lightness of being. The butterfly's beauty has come at great cost and through its journey it has undergone profound transformations and survived many obstacles…”

That is my primary reason why I chose a butterfly. I am a woman, the most delicate between men and women. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so I can’t say you’d find me beautiful… but all of God’s creations are beautiful in his sight, so therefore I am beautiful. I’m beautiful to me, and I am beautiful to God… and that’s what matters. That definition fits, but more importantly my book is about my life, my struggles and obstacles that I've had to get through.

If you think about a butterfly’s life, a butterfly begins as a caterpillar, and throughout it’s life, it transforms into a butterfly. Through this process it has to survive! That’s what my story is about. Survival. I survived. And today I am still surviving different obstacles. A butterfly is my favorite symbol, and it defines me. I look at myself as a beautiful disaster. My life has been a disaster, but through it all, I have become more beautiful. I learned things in life the hard way, but I wouldn’t change anything about my life, or myself because these are the things that made me who I am. Beautifully me.

My third reason for using a butterfly is what you see. The butterfly covers both the front and back of my book (one wing on each cover, the butterfly's body on the spine), and I did that with intention. I wanted you to see one wing when you pick up my book, but when you open the book, and are reading it’s contents, I wanted the entire butterfly exposed. I am exposing my entire story. I wanted it to symbolize more than just the actual butterfly. It’s telling you, and anyone who walks up while you are reading, that you are seeing it all. No secrets. Everything. Therefore you are seeing the whole butterfly. Me.

So, from now on, when people ask me why I used a butterfly, I will respond, because that’s me...  A beautiful and delicate disaster. Me.