The Flight of our Butterfly is a mothers heartfelt celebration of her daughters short life on earth. Our hero, Bianca Jovan, was diagnosed at the age of 19 with an aggressive form of Lupus while in her first year of college. This book brings you into the trials and tribulations of Biancas life through a series of inspirational short stories from her mothers personal handwritten journal. Each chapter tells the story of their relationship, their struggles and their triumphs through small notes and anecdotal observations of love and affection only a mother can have. Their journey takes you back into time as if you were right there enjoying these moments with them. Some funny, some enlightening, and some serious, its a firsthand view into raising a young lady in todays world. Bianca passed away 9 years after the last entry in her mothers journal. The notes following are raw emotional peeks into a mothers resolve after the loss of her child. Deborah Wallace is a first time author sharing the personal story of a mothers relationship with her daughter Bianca, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 28. A graduate of the infamous Fashion Institute of Technology she has had a successful career as a Technical Designer for womens intimate apparel since college. Deborah has been married for over 35 years to her high school sweetheart Frank, and theyre currently living in Stone Mountain, Georgia with their son, Justin. A community volunteer and mentor of young people since the age of 17, when she first supervised a youth bowling league in the South Bronx, NY. Deborah is an active advocate for Lupus Awareness and continues to mentor young ladies in the community. The Flight of our Butterfly A Mother's Celebration of Her Daughter's Life By Deborah A. Wallace Trafford Publishing Copyright © 2016 Deborah A. Wallace All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4907-7329-2 CHAPTER 1 The Worst Day Free It was 5:00 p.m. that Wednesday afternoon, when Bianca called me to say, "The doctors are going to admit me so they can do a test." I could hear the fear in her voice. My immediate reaction was to come home, back to Georgia right now. "Do you want me to come home?" I said. I had been working in New York City for over two years due to the bottom falling out of the economy in 2008. Someone had to find a way to: (1) keep our house, (2) feed our family and most all (3) pay for my daughter's health care. The only opportunity available for me was back up north. Bianca had been unemployed for over a year. She had filed for social security insurance for disability and was about to lose her COBRA health care status. As a mother, I knew I had to find a job to help pay for my family's needs. In 2008 both of us parents were out of work. Being a woman of strong independence, I felt I had to provide for my own self, regardless of what my husband could offer. Since we were both unemployed I made the sacrifice to live away. The only place hiring in the career I had been working in for over thirty years, was good ole New York City. So I took the job offer (the pay was very good), got an apartment in the Bronx, and was given the opportunity to fly back to Atlanta every chance I could get to be with my family. Luckily my husband was able to find a job in New Jersey about eight months after I relocated and he joined me in the small apartment we now called home. It was a temporary situation at least that is what I kept telling Bianca. I felt it was my obligation to ensure that Bianca was going to keep getting her medicine. She had been suffering from SLE lupus for the past seven years. It's extremely painful if you have ever seen someone suffering from it. Lupus flares (as they are called) are highly debilitating; it attacks the body's skin, muscles, and joints, and can be a very aggressive disease. Lupus has the ability to destroy major organs, such as the kidneys or lungs. Bianca's lupus was beginning to attack her lungs, which was causing serious damage to her heart. My kids were twenty-six and twenty-three at the time, so it wasn't as if we needed to be home with them. They understood the reasons for us transferring up north. As a family we agreed this move was the best course of action. We had been living in our Georgia home for about twenty years and unlike everyone around us, we were not going to lose it. We sensed that our adult offspring would enjoy having the house to themselves; especially after their father found a job in New Jersey allowing him to move up with me. For the two of them it was like being back in a college, instead of a dorm room they had a whole house. All that was required from them was care for it. (Stop laughing!) In the summer of 2010 my son switched places with my husband and came to live with me in New York City. Justin had graduated from college the year before and was struggling to find a job. He began working for Macy's on Thirty-fourth Street that September. Meanwhile my husband had found a way within his co