Wayson comes to visit

The loveliest thing just happened. This morning I sent off the last notes on the galley proofs, am waiting to review those changes and the cover copy, and then that's it: the book is ready to go to the printers. I started writing this story in 2014. I know, it's faster than my first book, which took 25 years from start to finish, but still, my slowness is remarkable. Got to speed up; times a'wasting, you old fart!

But after sending off, I realized that I'd repeated myself. At the end, I write a summary of various characters in the book, including my parents, of whom I write that they are much missed. And then in the Acknowledgements, I mention various friends, including "the much-missed Wayson Choy." Must not repeat.

So I changed it to "the inimitable Wayson Choy." He is much missed, but he was also inimitable. As I was sending the change off, I noticed a magnificent, huge swallowtail butterfly outside my screen door. It hovered, swooped, landed on the dill, on the gardenia - the gardenia that was a present from Wayson; it flew off and came back, only a foot from the house, over and over, for more than ten minutes. If the screen had been open, I think it would have flown inside. That has never happened before, that a butterfly stayed so long and persistently.

It fluttered so on the other side of the window, I couldn't get a good shot.

Wayson's symbol was the butterfly. I have no doubt that was my friend, come back to let me know how glad he is the book, the slow progress of which he followed, is finally finished, that he's proud of me and happy to be part of it.

I'm a sceptical atheist, but I know that my beloved inimitable friend Wayson visited me today.

This says 'female.' Wayson wouldn't mind.