Butterflies and sympathy

 I had the occasion to make a sympathy card this week, and I wanted to make something special, instead of just digging one out of my stash.  I lost my youngest, and last uncle, Bob, this week.  He died way to young and way too soon, and I will miss him so much.  Bob got sick just after Christmas, and went into kidney failure, and so he was going to dialysis a couple times a week, and things improved, although it was a struggle.  Six weeks ago he told me that he was showing so much improvement that he was going to reduce the dialysis from 3 to 2 times a week.  When I saw him at a wedding 3 weeks ago, he said he was done doing dialysis, because his kidneys were functioning better.  But, last week, when the weather turned nice, Bob went out to putter in his yard a little bit, and took a fall on the steps, hit his head and fractured his skull.  A few days later he died from a bleed in the brain.  Just when we thought things were looking better, he was called home by our Lord. 
Bob was more like a cousin than an uncle, because he was closer in age to us kids, as he was 16 years younger than my mom.  He was always fun, goofy, and teased us little girls relentlessly, and we loved it.  I always thought he was so handsome, so smart, and so adventurous.  He flew planes when he was young, he worked in my grandfather's auto repair garage, and when grandpa retired, Bob and his brother turned it into a motorcycle shop, and I remember they sold snowmobiles, the first I'd ever seen.  He still rides a motorcycle, with a side car for his wife.  He loved the outdoors, fishing and hunting, and when he had a son he bought a cabin so they would have a place to enjoy doing those things together.  He was almost 50 before he became a dad, and it made him even younger.  We enjoyed that Bob and his family always joined our family for the holidays, so that they could be around all the cousins, and all the action that came along with Christmas dinner for 45 people! 
When I made this card, I wished I had a airplane, or a motorcycle, to add in his honor, but all I had was some newsprint and a butterfly.  For many years Bob delivered newspapers to local grocery stores and stands, so it reminds me of him.  And, the butterfly because it is a free wanderer, like Bob, quietly soaring and sailing through life, and always a joy to see. 
I got this idea for this card from LuAnne Puguliese.  But I made this card in Baha Breeze, one of my favorite colors, which will be retiring soon.  The Latenight Stampers challenge 222 was looking for cards from retired colors, so I think I'll share this with them. 
Hope you have a little free time for some stamping this weekend.  Just enjoy life today.

Mary Alice