Hope Soap
Jennifer
A butterfly symbolizes hope, a loved one… an angel sending you a message from up above. Whenever I see a butterfly, I see my beloved sister, Megan, shining over us. Since her passing, she has sent my family and I many signs including songs, butterflies, ladybugs and the color pink, her favorite color.
After my sister, Megan, passed, I started receiving signs from her when I needed to feel her with me. It has been so very difficult losing her, and somehow a butterfly always seems to find me when I need it the most. They are YOU.
The color pink symbolizes Megan to me. It was her favorite color. The color pink also always seems to pop up on her birthday, anniversary, or just when I need to feel her presence. Whether it’s a pink fake flower, a real flower in my yard I didn’t plant, a piece of paper with pink writing, & more. Shortly after her passing, on Valentine’s Day, I met a dog at an adoption event, her name was PINK! It was love at first sight with her and I knew we were meant to be. After the event, I went to a yoga class and the song “I Will Remember You” by Sarah McLaughlin started playing, which was the song that we played at her funeral. Hope filled my heart as I listened to the song and I knew Megan sent me this special sign and brought Pink to me. I adopted her shortly after. My girl Pinker has been my special heart dog. She has comforted me through a lot of sadness over the years.
I met my husband right before covid and we got engaged a year later. While shopping for the perfect wedding dress, I couldn’t decide between 2 options. I tried them each on twice and when I went to try them for a third time, as soon as I walked out of the dressing room again “I Will Remember You” came on and I knew that was the dress and Megan was there with us. My husband and I wanted to get married in our backyard with our family so we built a beautiful garden in our yard. He surprised me with a sign naming the garden, “Butterfly Crossing”, in memory of Megan. On the day of the wedding, butterflies were released at the end of the ceremony and hung around the entire day. It was perfect!
These symbols and signs of connection keep Megan’s memory alive and remind me of the smart, funny, thoughtful, loving, and full-of-life sister she was to me. I can still hear her laugh! I believe our loved ones send us these messages from heaven up above.
Megan loved baking and I love being creative. I have always enjoyed creating, growing, and making natural beauty products. In 2016, I started sharing my creations with my clients, family, friends, and especially my nieces/nephews. I’ve made so many bath bombs! I was also selling my products at fundraisers and donated the proceeds to the dog rescue where I found Pink. Years later, I finally decided to make a business of it. I wanted to share my love for naturally handmade beauty products, and also honor Megan’s memory. This is how Butterflies + Bubbles came to be. The name was inspired by my beloved sister to keep her memory alive.
This new journey led me to collaborate with founder Christine to share Hope Soaps with you. Sending you a message from your angel with a butterfly soap.
😇🦋❤️
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Shannon
It’s incredible how powerful it is that Megan seems to know when we need her the most. The signs we receive from her, some at the most difficult times and some at the happiest times tell us all that she is here with us. I like to say that she took on a bigger role than all of us, as her job is to watch over our family and our kids. One of the first “signs” I personally had was when Erin had just given birth to our little Elise Megan. Once I heard she was in labor, I literally drove to the hospital and sat at a nearby Panera until she made her appearance and I could go meet her!
When I walked in the door, I witnessed an incredible life that was just brought into our family. I was so proud of Erin as she carried this tiny human while going through the most painful time in our lives. I felt sad that Megan wasn’t there to meet her first niece. Then, I looked up at the dry-erase board on the wall and on it was the name of her current nurse that would be back to check on Erin and Elise - It said in the most perfect print: Megan. That was the first of so many signs I knew Megs was with us and would always be.
A few years later my husband and I got married; I was feeling cheated that Megan wasn’t there on our special day. So, we decided to honor her by having a memory table at our wedding. A friend used dried roses from the wake to insert into my jewelry. Additionally, one of my bridesmaids gave me an angel charm with her picture in it and it was attached to my bouquet. We were literally at the church about to walk out as newlyweds, I felt something tickle. I looked down and a ladybug landed on my hand, as I was holding my bouquet. I smiled and knew she WAS with us on our special day.
Like Erin in honoring Megan’s name, we named our daughter Alexis Hope, as Megan had a Hope tattoo. I seem to find little Hope signs everywhere - once I was in Hallmark and saw a heart with butterflies on it with the word Hope. It now sits on my windowsill next to my bed. As a tradition growing up, we always went to an Irish Store after chopping down our family Christmas Tree. One year I was really missing Megan and was sad that she wasn’t with us. As I was about to walk out of the store, I spotted a little Irish rock that said Hope on it. I brought this to the cemetery and it sat next to her name.
One of my favorite traditions we started since the first Christmas we lost Megan, was doing “Megan Stockings.” No matter how little money Megan had in the bank, she took the time to make us each our own stockings. They would be filled with silly things from the Dollar Store or very thoughtful things that reminded her of one of us. So every Christmas, we take turns hosting the Megan Stockings. We do a stocking for everyone that either contains something that reminds us of her, something to live on in her memory, or something silly that we’d think she would have bought for us. We now have butterfly hats, socks, angels, wind chimes, Butterfly Fairy Gardens, and most recently a wooden frame that says “Whisper I love you to a butterfly and it will fly up to heaven to deliver your message.”
It’s very painful to have lost a member of our family at such a young age. The pain and sadness will continue to affect us for years to come. But when Megan makes her appearance, like ladybugs in the dead of winter or a butterfly in our home in February, we know she’s still with us and guiding us through life.
Erin
We lost my little sister Megan in 2013. At the time I was 6 months pregnant with my first child. My beautiful daughter Elise was born a few months later. We celebrated Megan’s life and the amazing aunt I know she would have been by naming her Elise Megan. Nearly 10 years later, we have continued to talk about Megan frequently in our home.
One of our favorite ways to celebrate Megan’s life is on her birthday. We choose to make this a happy day in our family where we share our favorite stories and guess what Megan’s reactions to our kids' shenanigans would have been. My kids, along with my nieces and nephews, love writing a message on a balloon to Megan. We give them time to think about what they want to say and when they are ready we send those messages up to heaven. The progression of this tradition as the kids get older has been so special to watch. Megan is their guardian angel and I love that they know she is always looking out for them.
Mom & Dad
Megan was our ‘tag-a-long’. She was so much younger than her older sisters, that they all thought she was adorable and would fight over who would play with her. Meggie, in turn, adored her sisters. She always looked up to them. She wanted to be like them, but she also had some definite opinions about what she wanted to do. She was silly and wanted to make sure everyone noticed her!! Megan loved her time with Daddy, playing softball. Girl Scouting and camping held a special bond between her & I. And did she love animals!! How many did she talk us into!? Some of my poignant memories include Megan talking non-stop on car rides, poking me awake as I fell asleep reading her stories, finding her first geo-cache, and talking Denny & I into getting a Papillion from Minnesota. She loved playing dress up and American Girl Dolls. She was a great drummer but didn’t have enough confidence to continue on in high school. Even though she was super nervous trying out, she was awesome on the Montini stage.
She had a great work ethic and wanted to help solve everyone’s problems. She was a great listener and always had great insights into everyone else's problems. Her migraines and PTSD made life tough for her at the end, but she never gave up!
I don’t think of Megan as gone. Because this journey’s just begun. Life holds so many facets and this earth is only one. As Megan lives in Heaven, I think of her as resting from the sorrows and the tears from this world in a place of warmth and comfort, and love. She always cared so much about us, that I think how she must be wishing that we would know today how nothing but our sadness can really pass away. I think of her as living in the hearts of those she touched, for nothing loved is ever lost and Megan is loved so much.
Written with LOVE 💗
By, Jennifer, Shannon, Erin, Mom & Dad
