Monarchs In Memory

Butch was my Uncle. He was very good to me. When I went through nursing school, he let me live in his house for free, and he helped pay all by bills all the while I was in school. He was very much a father figure in my life during those hard years of nursing school. He and I shared a beautiful golden retriever named Charlie, who healed my broken heart from a horrible break-up, and healed my Uncle by making him a much more social individual. 

 

My Uncle never married and lived alone. He was my project, and I didn't mind. He liked it when my friends came over for pizza. (He loved pizza) He was also a huge sports fan, so he enjoyed  talking sports with my friends and my now husband when we were dating.

 

Butch could be blunt. Sometimes too blunt, but some of the things he said in the past now make for some pretty hilarious stories.

 

One of his favorite things to do was to bring you down to his basement apartment and play his favorite videos for you at ear-splitting levels. He loved the Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, The Doors, and liked to share his love of music with others.

 

My Uncle was 72 when he died. He did not die of "old age", or a heart attack. He died in a horrible fire. This will haunt me, my mother and my sister for the rest of our days, I think. It keeps me up at night sometimes.

 

I am hoping that releasing this monarch will be cathartic for me, and wouldn't it be something if Butch The Butterfly made it all the way to Mexico? Yes. Yes it would.

 

I love you Butchie Baby. Fly high....