A - Z Blogging Challenge: 04.02.2026

 

Good Thursday evening to you.  I have been busy today and have just sat down for the first time since breakfast.  Of course, in true form, I am just writing my post for the second day of the A - Z Challenge.  But would you expect anything more from me?  This weekend, I am going to try very hard to get a few posts written ahead of time for nights like this when I would rather curl up on the couch than write.

But here I am...can't quit this thing on the second day in!!

If you missed yesterday's post, please find it here.  My theme for this 26-day challenge is glimmers or little miracles or small blessings that I stumble across on a daily basis.  When LIFE gets crazy, I sometimes forget to look for them.  I get bogged down in the crazy and the chaos and forget that even on the worst days there is something to celebrate.  Anne Frank said it so well:

“I’ve found that there is always some beauty left — in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can all help you.” [source]

So, this challenge is going to remind me to keep looking for the beauty and the blessings. 

B is for Butterflies

I have associated butterflies with Earthly visits from my Heavenly father since his death in 2012.  When my mother died 10 years later, I decided I needed to differentiate between kinds of/colors of butterflies so I could determine if it was my mom visiting or my dad.  These days I say that a visiting Monarch is my dad and a flitting buttery yellow one is my mom.  

My mom visits more in spring.  I've seen her several times already this season.  She seems to like a big bush we have in the backyard beside the pool and some rosemaries planted under our Vitex tree.  Mom was a spring baby, born on 03.21, the first day of the season.  On her last birthday, we gave Mom a denim jacket with several blingy brooches, one of which was...a butterfly.

Dad, like most Monarchs, passes through west Texas on his way to Mexico in the fall.  But he has even popped by a couple of times this spring.  My dad was born in September so it stands to reason that he would appear in the early autumn.  

Butterfly sightings make me happy.  I am always quick to point them out to my loved ones.  Not sure what my grandbabies first thought about me saying, "Hi, Mom" or "There's my dad."  But they are used to it now.

My mom died after a day in hospice care.  The nurses caring for her put this print of a Monarch butterfly on the door to her room shortly after she passed.  That made me smile.  I think Dad was there to take Mom home.

Metamorphosis

Two years before Mom died, the assisted living center where she lived had a multi-day Halloween celebration.  They invited residents to dress in costumes on a certain theme for a couple of days leading up to 10.31.2020.  The world was knee-deep in Covid and we were so glad to have something fun for Mom to look forward to.  My sister and I bought several different costumes that included crazy socks and fun face masks.  Her official Halloween costume, though, was butterfly wings and a pair of fall-themed pajamas.  I think that was the beginning of Mom's metamorphosis toward getting her Heavenly wings.  She really began going downhill quickly health-wise from that point on.  But Mom sure did get a kick out of dressing up for Halloween that one last time.

These glimpses or glimmers of my parents make me happy.  Seeing a butterfly causes me to stop for a moment and appreciate its beauty and remember the strong foundation my parents gave me.

Your Turn

Do you see butterflies or birds or maybe something entirely different and feel as if someone you've loved and lost has returned to say hello?  I know a lot of people associate seeing cardinals with visits from their deceased family members.  However, I would never see my parents if I had to wait for a cardinal to come by.  A pigeon, maybe.  But we never have cardinals!!

Off to bed.  Have my A - Z post for letter C planned in my head but need to get it written before the 11th hour tomorrow night!!  Hope you will pop back by to see if I got it together.

Have a blessed Good Friday.  May God send you a glimmer in your day.

Hugs and kisses,