The Blue Butterfly Party / We Shall Be Free

Telling the butterflies . . .

My husband wanted to go jogging. He said I should come along because I needed to get out of the house. He also said these magic words: "Maybe you'll see some butterflies." And so, I went.

We ended up on the closed road near the shooting range on the other end of the local gameland, SGL 176, the Scotia Barrens. And the place was indeed chock full of butterflies. Sweet!

I have never seen so many red-spotted purples in my entire life! There were blue butterflies up and down the road. I stood in one spot and counted 16 of them in a very small space. I may have seen a hundred or more in total. An unbelievable butterfly party!

Oh, and that wasn't all. There were white admirals (a different form of the red-spotted purple), viceroys, tiger swallowtails, and monarchs (laying eggs, no less!). I walked closer to the milkweed for a look, and spotted my first tiny monarch caterpillar. Yay! New life begins.

But I was walking with my sorrow in my heart, of course; tears for my sister never far from my eyes. I felt like I needed to tell the butterflies and so I did: "She's FREE now!!" I hollered down the road. "The blue butterfly girl is FREE!"

It was the biggest butterfly party I have ever witnessed, featuring more butterflies than I may have ever seen in one place, but especially the blue ones. My sister's favorite.

The party had begun long before I got there. I went to share my news. It turns out . . . the butterflies already knew. And so it was that the butterflies danced. . . .

The soundtrack song is Garth Brooks, with We Shall Be Free. I'm including two versions. One is from the Muppet Show, the other is a Facebook link.