Home > Stories > True Holiday Miracles > The Totally True Hatch Christmas Story for 1999
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This year's story requires some background. When we were dating I affectionately referred to Betty as "my little butterfly". My first gift to her was a gold butterfly charm. Our first trip together was to China where we learned, to our amazement, that "Betty translates to "Bihudia" or "butterfly" in Chinese. I was touched when the inside circle of the wedding band she gave me in 1982 read: "Your Butterfly lit forever".
Last month, on November nineteenth, we were on the final phase of a South American trip. While we enjoyed Chile and Argentina, we were simply
enchanted by Peru. Luckily we had rooms at the hotel at the top of the mountain at
Machu Picchu. Betty had badgered me to take her there ever since she read Shirley McClain's book, "Out on a Limb"! Betty anticipated that she, like Shirley, might also have a special spiritual experience there.
The view at the top was spectacular. At the end of the first day of exploring the ruins, all thirteen members of our Art Museum group gathered on the balcony of the hotel to imbibe the Peruvian national drink, Pisco Sour, and to watch the sun go down. As the shadows climbed up from the valley floor, the clouds slowly lifted off the top of the magnificent mountain opposite us, allowing the sun to strike an isolated, exposed cliff just below the peak. One of the men in the group nudged me and pointed to the giant rock formation in the distance, which glowed a beautiful shade of gold against a backdrop of unbroken hunter green foliage. The unmistakable shape was that of a huge butterfly, quietly and gently landing near the summit.
I leaned over to Betty and asked if she had noticed that a Butterfly had lit on the mountain? She looked up, astonished; tears began to run down her cheeks as we experienced a special moment at Machu Picchu.
If you haven't been to Peru this millennium, we would urge you not to wait another hundred years to do so!
Betty and Stan
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