Bye, Bye Butterfly
Four years ago today Isamu died. I heard a song on the radio today that reminded me of him. the kids and I got an ice cream in his honor and toasted to him. Earlier in the day i spent some time in my butterfly garden thinking about him and admiring all the beautiful flowers that have evolved in my garden. I have butterflies this year- Monarchs to be exact. They are beautiful. His death still makes me sad. The memories I have of him make me happy. One time it was really late at night and he had been driving all day returning from a trip home to San Diego. He stopped at my apartment and surprised me with a container of cookie dough ice cream. We shared it and he teased me because I picked out all the cookie dough and left just the ice cream for him. He told me he started smoking that day- as a way to stay entertained on the long drive back to Santa Cruz. We laughed about it because it was just so silly. He said he thought that maybe someone was living in his car at night - I thought that was creepy. He didn’t seem to mind. He was going to leave something in the car to see if they took it-then he’d know for sure. (He never locked his car and his apartment was in a questionable area.) We watched Twilight Zone- the original- as we ate the ice cream. Then I went to bed and he slept on a little foam mattress I kept in my room for him. He liked little things like that.
My neighbor passed away two days ago. Cancer of the pancreas. Perhaps I’ll take a butterfly plant over to his wife.
T