When we arrived at the store, there was a huge bin in front, with baby rabbits of various kinds and sizes. I have always liked rabbits and stopped to pet them. The sales person picked one up and handed it to me. I told her we were looking for a guinea pig for our children, and put it back. The sales person asked us about our kids, their likes and dislikes, and how old they were. After relating the information to her she strongly discouraged us from getting a guinea pig. They are a lot of work for that age group, they can bite, and they sometimes scream.
She was effective in dissuading us. Maybe she was getting a commission for selling the rabbits, just wanted them out of her store, or if she was genuinely interested in helping us find the perfect pet, but that's where she steered us, straight for that large bin with all those fluffy bunnies.
We asked about each kind of rabbit and the one that was easiest to care for; their likes and dislikes, what to feed them, what not to feed them, and especially how large they would get. Then we settled on a smallish white lop eared beauty with brown and gold markings. (The lop ears, we learnt later, are the best rabbits to have; common rabbits have stand up ears).
The sales person told us that the bunny was a female and she was a miniature Holland lop. Also that one of the marks of good breeding and beauty in a Holland lop is a marking the shape of a butterfly on the face and over the nose, and this bunny's butterfly was perfect. That's how Butterfly got her name.

Our youngest child was about 18 months at the time Butterfly came home and had no compunctions about sharing his food. Fortunately for Butterfly, she ate a lot of fruits (which is good for bunnies). We would let Butterfly out of her cage in the mornings about snack time. David and Butterfly would share his banana, or peach, or apple while sitting in the open space of dad's base drum. The drum had a pillow in it for sound balance and was the perfect perch for baby boy and bunny.
As they both grew up, the perch changed but the routine did not, and it became a family routine to share fruits with Butterfly. One of the things Butterfly enjoyed, besides sharing food, was a good ear caress, especially from dad. She would sit on the couch (or floor if he was reclining on the floor) near dad and clean her ears. This was the sign for him to rub her ears or her head between her ears, and if he didn't comply fairly quickly he was liable to get nipped by her front teeth. ( This didn't break the skin but it was a smart pinch nevertheless.)
Butterfly was very social and loved her kids. She knew which room was theirs and which was ours. She would often go into their room when they were playing and chew on any toys she found there.

One day when Butterfly was about a year old I decided that it would be good for her to go outside. But how to keep her from running away was the problem. The solution we found (thanks to the sales person at the pet store) a small animal harness. We made our purchase and took the harness and leash home. We decided that the best way to get Butterfly used to the harness was to put it on her while inside. So we took her out of her cage and put the harness on her.
I had never seen Butterfly as immobile as she was after I put the harness on her. She just sat and would not move. She wouldn't share a banana (one of her favorites), or explore with David (which was a routine); she didn't even respond when dad rubbed her ears.
She just sat there, motionless as though struck by a martian's ray gun. I thought she might have eaten something toxic and quizzed the kids thoroughly. When it became obvious that she wasn't going to respond to anything, I put her in her cage.
Every day I checked on her to see if she was eating, drinking,or had diarrhea (which can kill a rabbit quickly). She didn't appear to be eating or drinking and, thank God, she didn't have diarrhea either.
After about 3 days of this; and since we didn't have money for a vet, we resigned ourselves to the fact that Butterfly was likely dying of some mysterious malady.
By this time she had dark stains under her eyes and around her nose.
So on the 4th day, in order to keep a more observant vigil, I left the door to her cage open. With gentleness and care I removed the harness. she wouldn't need it if she were dying anyway, and would probably be more comfortable in her final hours without it.