This is a longer blog post than usual because this story is very personal to me and close to my heart.
When we started Lolly & Laddie, it was built on more than pajamas and prints. It was built on family, faith, and the memories that stay with us long after the people who made them are gone.
Our new logo has a butterfly at its heart and that butterfly comes from one of the most important relationships in my life.
When I was younger, my grandmother used to take me to a butterfly habitat made entirely of glass. Inside were hundreds of butterflies flying freely all around us. They would land on our shoulders, our hands, and sometimes even in our hair. We would spend hours walking slowly through the building together and looking at each one.
We would point out how no two butterflies were the same. Some were bright and colorful, others soft and subtle. Each one had different markings on their wings. She taught me to slow down and really see them, to appreciate how unique and beautiful each one was in its own way.
Butterflies were not just something we admired during those visits. My grandmother loved them. She wore them on her clothes, kept them on her blankets, and filled her home with little butterfly trinkets. Over time, butterflies became part of who she was to me.
Years later, when she was diagnosed with cancer, butterflies took on an entirely new meaning.
Watching someone you love walk through cancer changes you in ways you do not expect. There were days filled with fear and uncertainty. Years of hospital visits, treatments, and waiting rooms. Days where we prayed for healing and days where we simply prayed for strength.
Through all of it, my grandmother showed a kind of courage I had never seen before.
She always put others before herself. Even while she was sick, she worried more about her family than about her own pain. She was selfless in the purest way and loved her family deeply right up until the end.
She never lost her faith. Even when her body was tired and her future felt unsure, she trusted God’s timing. She believed that every season of life had purpose, even the painful ones. She reminded our family that growth does not always look like forward motion. Sometimes it looks like endurance. Sometimes it looks like holding on.
Butterflies became a symbol of hope during that season. A reminder that something beautiful could still exist in the middle of something hard.
In February of 2020, she passed away.
It has now been six years and there are still days when that feels impossible to write. Losing her left a space in my heart that will never fully be filled. But when I see a butterfly now, I think of her strength. I think of her faith. I think of the glass building filled with light and wings and color. I think of how she taught me to notice beauty even when life feels fragile and uncertain.
Sometimes the hardest part is knowing she never got to see this chapter of my life. She never got to see Lolly & Laddie grow into what it is today and she never got to meet my son. I think about her often and wonder what she would say if she were here. I hope she would be proud. And on the days I feel like giving up, that hope is what carries me forward.
As Lolly & Laddie has grown, I have found myself returning to those memories again and again.
This business began as a small dream and has grown into something I never imagined. There have been seasons of joy and seasons of doubt. Seasons where I felt brave and seasons where I felt overwhelmed. Seasons where I questioned myself and seasons where I had to trust God even when I did not understand the plan yet.
And the truth is, Lolly & Laddie is hard.
Owning a business is hard. There are days I feel strong and excited and there are days I feel tired, stretched thin, and ready to give up. There are moments when the weight of responsibility feels heavier than I expected and I wonder if I am doing enough or doing it right.
But then I look at our logo.
I see that butterfly and I think of my grandmother. I think of her journey. I think of her selflessness. I think of the way she loved her family and trusted God’s timing even when life was painful and uncertain.
And I keep going.
That butterfly has become more than a design. It is a reminder to push forward when things feel hard. It is a reminder that growth does not happen without struggle and that something beautiful can still come from seasons that feel impossible.
When it came time to create a new logo, I did not want something that was just pretty. I wanted something that carried meaning. I wanted something that felt like her.
The butterfly in our logo represents:
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Growth through every season
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Trusting God’s timing
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Family and legacy
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The beauty of becoming
Every order we pack and every design we create now carries a piece of her story with it.
Thank you for being part of this journey and for allowing Lolly & Laddie to grow alongside your family. I hope when you see our butterfly, you see more than a logo. I hope you see love, faith, and the reminder that every season has purpose.
Madison
Founder & Owner, Lolly & Laddie Boutique