SWFL.io - Local NewsCAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK) — Small crocheted butterflies hanging in a tree on a Florida beach are carrying a powerful story across the world.
What began as a way for two grieving parents to honor their baby boys is now connecting strangers from country to country. Each person is helping the twins continue a journey they never got the chance to take.
While walking along the beach at sunrise on Anna Maria Island, Brooke Trivett and her fiancé, who live in Cape Coral, noticed something dangling in the sea grape branches just off the sand.
"We thought it was trash, but then we were like, doesn't look quite like trash," Trivett said. "But we went and read it and realized it was, like, a super cool story, super sweet."
Hanging from the branch were crocheted butterflies and a laminated note. The message tells the story of identical twin boys—Kobe and Sep—from Belgium.
Their parents lost them after just 20 weeks of pregnancy. Sylvie De Bruyne, the twins' mother, said it was a very difficult time.
"It was a very hard pregnancy already, but at 20 weeks, my water broke, so I had to give birth to them, but they were too little to survive," De Bruyne said. "So when they were born, they immediately died afterwards."
Through their grief, the twins' parents held on to a dream they had always shared—traveling the world together as a family. De Bruyne said they had always planned to explore the world with their children.
"We always said, even if we have two little babies, we will go discover the world and go traveling," De Bruyne said. "So we searched for a way to take them with us and, yeah, to let them see the world like we had planned to do."
Learning to crochet during her pregnancy, De Bruyne said, after the twins passed, she started making small butterflies. She leaves them in places they visit with a note asking strangers to take them to new destinations.
"I thought, maybe I can crochet butterflies and take them with us," De Bruyne said. "And yeah, hope someone else will find the butterflies and let them go on to travel the world."
Over time, those butterflies traveled thousands of miles. Wouter Verstuyf, the twins' father, said seeing the butterflies continue their journey has been meaningful.
"It's lovely to see that there are many people who take the courage to take them and bring them to another place," Verstuyf said.
The butterflies have appeared across Europe and even as far away as Australia. Now, one has made its way to Florida.
"We're like, just, we're just in awe, and to be on vacation, and we're like, you know, what are the chances?" Trivett said. "And then to find out that they've been all over the place, and now they're here in Florida."
Trivett said she and her fiancé plan to place it somewhere new so another traveler can find it and continue Kobe and Sep's journey. She wants to find a meaningful location where the butterflies can reach more people.
"We want to find a good place, a place where people do come here to travel, so that when they're ready to head back home or head back to their new destination, that they can take Kobe and step with them," Trivett said.
Click here to see the "Twins seeing the world" Facebook page.