Kaylyn Butler:
CLASS OF 1986
Harlem High SchoolClass of 1986
Machesney park, IL
Southern Illinois University - CommunicationsClass of 1990
Carbondale, IL
Kaylyn's Story
1986 - Graduate HHS and begin at Southern Illinois Univ; pledge a sorority {WTF?};
1988 - De-"Activate" sorority; meet Scott Conover
1989 - Marry Scott Conover
1990 - Graduate SIU - B.S. in Speech Communication; go rappelling and *LOVE* it!! {got pics to prove it, FTW}
1991 - Graduate SIU - M.S. in Speech Communication; move to Altoona / Hollidaysburg, PA
1993 - Scott graduates with Ph.D.
1994 - Scott's father Herb dies unexpectedly of a massive heart attack at age 61
1995 - Move back to IL, 9 months apart
1998 - Buy first {ONLY!} house; adopt Spot The Dog; guest on Oprah's Book Club; Grandpa Butler dies;
1999 - The Delicate One is born
2000 - THE WORLD DOES NOT COME TO AN END BECAUSE OF Y2K!!!!!; spend months on bedrest
2001 -Twins Danger Monkey and Olivia are born; Olivia dies; dazed though remainder of year
2002 - Arthur Andersen implodes
2003 - Grandma Butler dies at age 94 1/2
2005 - Scott's 1988 Toyota Tercel catches fire during his 2-mile commute from train station {told you I smelled gas!!}
2006 - New siding, house is no longer pink/peach/taupe
2007 - adopt Jack the JRT, piss off Scott
2008 - Buy scooter, piss off Scott; attempt kayaking on 40th birthday
2009 - Visit two National Parks; camp 12 times over summer; break tent zipper on final camping trip of season
2010 - Spot The Dog dies three days before Christmas
2011 - Mom has back surgery; Dad is diagnosed with two cancers; knit and knit and knit to keep from going crazy.
My life is essentially uneventful but for the daily activities of raising my kids to be kinder, smarter, more thoughtful, more cheerful, and all around better people than I could ever hope to be myself.
USING THE "STORY WIZARD"....
1. How do you hope old friends remember you?
Um...I *hope* they remember me at all!?! In all seriousness: I left Rockford for good the day I left for SIU. I returned for one summer; that 3 months was the last time I "lived" there. I got married there because that's the way my parents wanted it, not because it was my home. {Sometimes it's just easier to acquiesce than entertain fall-out. If you have ever met my mother, you will understand that her passive-aggressive needling can continue for *years* if she doesn't get her way or feels that she has been wronged. Digression...} Living away from where I grew up removes me from the immediacy of consciousness of so many of you -- my former peers -- who have chosen to remaine close to your matrix of familiarity. Thus, to be remembered at all would be flattering.
2. How do you blow off steam? Describe your favorite way to relax.
I knit. I'm knitting some *amazing* and gorgeous shawls at the present time. I use a hard-to-acquire yarn from Germany called Wollmeise because of the intensity of the colours. I'll also knit socks and hats for my menfolk and I've been requested to knit a pair of mittens. I'll knit anything except sweaters. I cannot tolerate seaming sweaters.
We tent camp about 10-12 times a year. This year will be the first without Spot The Dog, my camping buddy. We've done a few national parks and have more on our list to do. We mostly aim for Wisconsin; Illinois State Parks just line up the campsites exceedingly close together. We'll be venturing up to the U.P. and possibly Ontario as well this year. Plus I've got all of the Scout campouts...'cuz, yeah -- being the only mom to tag along makes that *so* much fun!
I also create art, write prose and photograph things. Scott says I get into a manic-creative mode when the inspiration strikes and then spend 24 ho...Expand for more
urs completely focused to the exclusion of the entire world as I bring my latest composition to life. He does get frustrated when I bring home large found objects, however, and gives me a time frame to either use them or throw them away. He has thrown away three of my mullioned windows that I specifically bought for a project because they would fit 8x10 photos...sot it!!!! I do not believe it is easy for him to live with an artist, so I just get upset by wandering off, muttering to myself {as he shouts "MUMBLER!!" at me, no less}, and finding a new flea market or junk heap to ravage. ;-)
3. What's the wildest thing you ever did in school?
Kim Higar and I went to Logli's one night and bought an economy-sized box of maxi pads and stuck them all over Rita Jacob's {Cathy's mother's} car. Her *red* car. Kim and I had nicknamed Rita "Rita Rag" quite a while before, so we thought it appropriate that she drive the rag mobile. Rita was none too pleased with our antics.
4. Do you have a hero? Talk about where your inspiration comes from.
I'm inspired by the faceless people that I'll never meet: kids who have kicked cancer; Holocaust survivors; rape survivors. People who have a story to tell of true crisis and hardship that they overcame and lived to tell. One of my most influential college professors once lectured that in each lifetime, we should only have three true crises; if there were more than three, there was either something wrong with the way we were living our life or something wrong with our classification system. {Dr. Tom Pace -- you were the BEST!}
5. The one person from my past who I'd most like to see again is Kim Higar, because I'd tell her that she was worth so much more than she gave herself credit for and so much smarter than she ever believed she was. I wish she were still alive so I could do that.
Not everyone I miss is on FB! I would also like to see / talk to several people from college, so if they find their way here, I would be delighted if they would contact me to just say hello and maybe drop a brief what-for about the turns their life has taken: Patti Relyea, Paul "Zippy the Pinhead" Phelan, Cathy Ray, Vickie Pavlak, and Jean Furmanek-Lasinski.
6. Life doesn't always turn out the way you expect. What's been your biggest surprise?
Losing a child. I never thought it would happen to me. Not that I thought I was "special" -- it's just, well, I guess I never thought about it the way I never think I could die in a car accident every time I leave my house. It does change you, though. It makes you feel more vulnerable, makes you feel more protective of your other children. The years tick by and the virtual milestones sit empty. You get beyond it, but never over it.
7. To be truly happy, you would be where, doing what, with whom?
I would be thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail. I would take six or seven {or eight?} months to do all 2,180 miles on a southward-bound thru-hike -- Katahdin to Springer Mountain -- starting in the spring when Katahdin opens. I would be with Scott. { A "thru-hike" means that you tackle the entirety of the trail during one singular hiking experience, rather than over a period of years and multiple return trips. It is still generally broken down into segments and trips into adjoining towns to replenish supplies and do laundry, which must take place because 2,180 takes so long to do and it is impossible to carry all of the food necessary. But it's still considered a "one-shot" hike. Just educating those non-hikers amongst.}
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