Jennifer's "Living" Memorial

Five years ago on May 18th, my daughter Jennifer passed. She was a gentle, generous, loving mother, daughter, wife and avid butterfly gardener among other things.

I have been trying to think of an appropriate way to memoralize her and it came to me in the form of the butterflies now migrating north from the sanctuaries of Mexico through my garden.

Jennifer loved gardening and her calling card said "Butterlfy Gardener". She and her little son Christopher watched in awe and amazement every time a butterfly hatched off the host plants, as seen in the first photo. The second photo shows Jen covering the "host" plants with netting so the crysalis could change from catepillars to butterflies.

Instead of a bench or tree or plaque in one place, it seems to me that anyone who would want to go to a nursery and buy a plant to feed or host butterflies would be keeping her memory alive all over the USA and Mexico. A "Living" tribute. Hopefully, watching the plant and butterflies thrive would bring the same awe and amazement to you that was experienced by Jennifer and Christopher.

There is a website called www.thebutterflysite.com that lists many plants or you can go to your local nursery where someone can make suggestions.

Planting these plants soon would significantly help the migration of these amazing creatures.

Christopher is now ten years old and we talk each time we are together about his butterfly experiences with his Mom. I think it has left an imprint on him for the rest of his life.

The indigenous peoples of Mexico believe that the returning butterflies in October are the return of the departed souls - all the more touching to those of us who are left behind.

To my Blogger friends: The above is being emailed to those people who have played a major part in the life of Jennifer and our family. I wanted to share it with all of you because, without knowing it, you have played an important role in my life for the last few years.........