Butterfly, like all butterflies, did not start out as a Butterfly. She started out, in 1925, as “Baby Girl”. Seriously. That’s what it says on her birth certificate. You have no idea how much fun we had getting a passport for her with a birth certificate like that! She eventually got the name “Alice”. That turned into “Sis”, which lasted for the next 7 or so decades and which she disliked. She always tried to trade nicknames with two of her sisters, Dolly and Honey. She was jealous of their “way sweeter” nicknames.
I got this hat in New Zealand - perfect for Butterfly!
When she was about 70 years old, I gave her a pin for her hair that was a butterfly on a spring. I’m pretty sure it was intended for a 6-year-old. Literally every day since she has worn a bouncing butterfly in her hair. When she writes emails (or letters) she flits from subject to subject, much like a butterfly flits from flower to flower. A friend observed, after laughing at one of her emails, “Oh, what a butterfly mind.” It was no great stretch to change her nickname to “Butterfly”.
That wasn’t quite good enough for Butterfly, though. She always hated her first name, so she decided to change that, too. She added an “n” to the end of it and no one who sees “Alicen” for the first time can figure out that it is pronounced the same as “Alison”. Her doctor’s office calls with appointment reminders saying, “A-leak-in, your appointment is tomorrow at 10.” We laugh hysterically and I tell her I have to take her in to get her leak fixed.
I tell you all of this to illustrate just how much Butterfly marches to the beat of her own drummer. While I was a kid growing up, I remember my friends telling me how much fun my mom was. I would always reply, “Really?” I just thought everybody’s mom rode bikes, roller-skated, rode go-carts, and tobogganed under a full moon.
We still laugh about the time we took advantage of a fresh snowfall shortly after I had become a mother. Chelsea was about 8 months old and with no one to babysit, we put her on a pillow in a cardboard box at the end of the toboggan. When we got to the bottom of the hill, the baby was missing. We trudged back up the hill, following the sound of her howls, to find her rolling around in the snow – apparently she’d flown out when we hit a bump.
Her 1990 Christmas "ski pants" - drop and slide!
Butterfly’s favorite place to eat is Jack in the Box. She goes there at least 3 times a week. She doesn’t even have to order … they just see her walk in and start preparing her plain chicken sandwich and kid’s drink, then deliver it to “her” table, where she holds court with friends. All of her friends know that they can find her at Jack’s, or, as they call it, Butterfly’s “office”. If none of her friends show up, she makes new ones. Anyone within striking distance is fair game and age is no matter. Sometimes she spends an hour talking to a 10-year-old, who will inspect each piece of jewelry and other times she discovers someone that I went to high school with decades ago.
Butterfly is often called “The Energizer Bunny”. She is an avid gardener and shares the beauty of our flower beds with anyone and everyone – whether or not they like flowers.
She loves that giant matalija poppy
Every week she picks a bouquet to take to the Senior Center café, where we pick up the Meals on Wheels that we deliver on Mondays.
rattlesnake grass
When her beloved rattlesnake grass blooms, she slides the blooming stalks into straws (that she has saved from Jack in the Box, of course) and hands them out all over town – the banks, the thrift stores … anywhere she runs an errand.
She takes piano lesson, pastel painting lessons, loves to read, hike and can give you a run for your money in a discussion of the current political scene. Just a few years ago, at age 82, she completed the Susan G. Komen 60-mile 3-day walk in San Diego – with nary a blister!
Butterfly at altitude - age 80
I hope you will enjoy getting to know Butterfly and will find her antics as much fun as I do.
