RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - On Sunday, September 8, families from around the region celebrated Grandparents Day with a Butterfly Release at Sacramento Children’s Museum (SCM). The event, which was a collaboration between SCM and Snowline Hospice, honored grandparents’ significant impact on children’s lives.

Snowline development director Rene Hamlin said, “We wanted to do something together with the Sacramento Children’s Museum that celebrated grandparents because a lot of grandparents bring their grandkids here, and we take care of a lot of grandparents [at Snowline]. It’s Grandparents Day and releasing a butterfly in honor or in memory or with your grandparent is kind of a magical experience.”

Hamlin said that the butterflies signify “hope and renewal. Here’s something that starts out as a caterpillar, this worm thing with a lot of legs, that goes into a cocoon — and scientists have opened up the cocoon and it’s not like there’s a baby butterfly in there, it’s this goo, this primordial goo — and then it opens up to reveal this beautiful butterfly, so it’s a mystery. It’s amazing, it’s magical.”

To commence the Butterfly Release, Hamlin read a poem: “As you release this butterfly in honor of me, know that I am with you and will always be. … Now fly away, butterfly, as high as you can go. I’m right there with you more than you know,” (poem by Jill Haley). Participants warmed the butterflies in their hands to wake them from hibernation, and then released them in honor of their grandparents.

 

Rancho Cordova City Councilmember Linda Budge attended the Grandparents Day Butterfly Release and said, “I think this is one of the sweetest things I have ever seen. Standing here holding these little creatures…. I mean, who’s ever held a butterfly?”

 

Budge loves spending time with her 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren: “As grandparents, it is such a treasure to have our grandchildren living here in the same area that we are. … I really appreciate everybody being here close to home. It gives us the opportunity to do mundane things like going to baseball games or to Back-to-School Night with the kids. There’s nothing better.”

 

The Butterfly Release celebration featured games, activities, face painting, and food vendors. Grandparents shared the day with their favorite tiny people and spoke about the importance of being intentionally active and present to make an impact on the lives of their grandchildren. One grandmother described it as the “consistency of family.” Others acknowledged the joy of getting to spoil the grandchildren and then give them back to the parents. Leslie Santana described the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren as “happiness.”

 

SCM’s director of museum advancement Meghan Toland said, “This is the first time the museum has ever been part of a Butterfly Release, and the reception was great. It was a really neat way to bring people of all ages to the museum. … It was really cool seeing people of all ages enjoying the event — and seeing all the butterflies released was so beautiful.” After such a successful event, Toland is hopeful that the Butterfly Release can become an annual event if there is continued community interest.

 

This year’s Butterfly Release was sponsored by Golden1 Credit Union, the City of Rancho Cordova, Republic Services, Oakmont of El Dorado Hills, and the Fernandez family. Proceeds from the event will benefit Snowline’s Healing All Together youth grief group and SCM’s educational programs.