Releasing the Butterfly

Book excerpt: Releasing the Butterfly is a love story that follows the decades-long relationship of a couple who met as teenagers by happenstance at a jail in the Texas Panhandle. These descendants of blue-collar parents, raised in a tradition steeped in education and faith, became friends through a shared love of literature, theater, film, and music. Having come of age in the 1950s, they would have to negotiate the terms of their relationship to ensure a wholly equal partnership. They would learn how to navigate a life together, find fulfillment, and, ultimately, confront a heartbreaking challenge that threatened to upend their happiness and their own self-identities.Any proceeds from this little book will go to Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary's program in sacred music.