Friday favorites: butterflies abound

Happy Friday friends! This week has been an emotional one around here, as I’ve already talked about. Amid the sorrow, there has been much joy. I have always loved butterflies, but since Bryan’s death, they have come to have special significance, as I described in a Facebook post shortly after he passed:

A running trail

This morning, I went for a run on my usual trail at Hawkes Landing when it hit me that I was running that very trail right before my sweet husband had to inform me that Bryan had been taken from us. I almost turned around, but I so love this place, and I didn’t want to lose the feeling of peace it has always brought me. So I pushed forward and focused on nature–the beautiful trees and wild flowers, the squirrels and birds. I consciously opened myself to nature’s healing power. Then I noticed how many butterflies there were, and (feel free to roll your eyes here), but I swear they represented Bryan flying free. This is an amazing, kind, cruel, complex, simple, exhilarating, terrifying world that we live in. Bryan would want us to continue enjoying it (though he’d probably want us to quit talking about it so much!).

So this week, I remembered Bryan with butterfly nail art. Thank you Meghan for doing a lovely job. How is it possible to paint something so tiny and make it look good?

Butterfly nail art

And Larry sent me these beautiful flowers, complete with a butterfly. Thank you Larry for your thoughtfulness.

Flowers with a butterfly

Sunday morning, I went on a walk with my sister and one of her grandsons. No butterfly pictures, but look at this cutie! Thank you Cindy for joining me and for sharing your little one.

Young boy at a park

Notice all the water bottles! We’re a well-hydrated group. I am immensely grateful for clean water to drink.

Woman and child on a trail

And that’s a wrap. What are you thankful for this week?

Follow my blog with Bloglovin.

You may also like

  • Friday favorites: delightful daughters

    It’s birthday season in our family. In the one-week period between March 31 and April 6, all three of our delightful daughters celebrate birthdays. Then it’s a grandson on the 8th, followed by my husband on the 12th. That doesn’t even take into consideration the extended family and friends with April birthdays. This week’s Friday…

  • Thank you notes: little bits of gratitude from August 2021

    Thank you Mother Nature… …for the short breaks in the smoky skies to allow for some quick hikes. Thank you Utah for having so many wonderful walking and hiking trails with easy access. And thank you friends for taking the hikes with me. I just wish I had taken a picture of the heavenly ice…

  • Thank you notes – August 2019

    It’s easy to get so caught up in the hustle of life that we forget to appreciate the small miracles that happen every day. I created the monthly Thank You Notes post to help me relive the happy moments, savor the gratitude, and share them with you. I hope they also inspire you to think about…

  • GratiTuesday guest post

    Today I have the privilege of writing a guest post for Janis’s GratiTuesday series. Here’s a little taste. I hope you’ll hop over to Retirementally Challenged to read the full post. While you’re there, check out the rest of her blog. You won’t regret it. I’m not a morning person—or more accurately, I don’t like…

  • Friday favorites

    If you live in Utah, you know last Saturday was the big rivalry game–University of Utah versus BYU. Guess which side I was rooting for! UofU shellac nails is a big commitment. For two weeks I’m proclaiming my loyalty loud and clear. (The sugar cookie came from Jenny. Delicious!) Lucky for me, my team prevailed (for the…

  • Friday favorites: thank you notes

    It’s Friday, and you know what that means–time to look back on the many good things that happened this week. Thank you Courtney and children for spending your Saturday evening with us. (Full disclosure: I didn’t take this picture; I stole it from Courtney’s Facebook.) Thank you peanut butter for making everything a little better–and thank…

6 Comments

  1. You always know the way to turn Lemons into Lemonade in everything you do. You always seem to find the positives instead of negatives,
    and continue to march forward in everything you do. From your dedications as an Senior Vice President of your company, being a great wife and partner, and for being the best Grandma ever! (just ask the grandkids ) you are Definitely the pillar for so many.
    Time to “Thank you” for being YOU!lar
    ❌⭕️❌⭕️❌⭕️

  2. Lovely post! I am grateful to be safely back home after our 7-week trip. I am also grateful to you for writing a guest post on my blog while I was gone 🙂

  3. I think of my dad whenever I see butterflies, too. And butterflies have been used to honor the many children who died in the Holocaust. So glad butterflies were plentiful this week. My dad has been gone for six years and this spring and summer the butterflies have been scarce. Makes me sad because it feels like he is slipping further away. XO

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *