A flip, a flap, a flutter,

Like old-fashioned butter,

Churning, churning, 

Inside turning,

From caterpillar into butterfly.

The plastic box containers waited for us on the counter of our Minnesota home-for-a-week with instructions for us to watch the hanging chrysali (plural for many chrysalis) and release the monarch butterflies once they hatched. Each of the four containers housed about six chrysali, and three butterflies already waited for us in one of them. Awed and amazed, we carefully reached inside the lid and let the delicate creatures climb on our fingers. Gently raising them out, we had a minute to just look at the thin, brightly colored wings with intricately drawn lines and soft curves. The dainty legs clung to our fingers as we marveled at the beauty. Then, like a tissue in the wind, the butterfly flapped its new wings for the first time as we watched it’s maiden flight into the blue sky. 

And that began our month long obsession with these beautiful, delicate creatures and their squishy caterpillar counterparts.

Though we started at the end of the cycle, watching the chrysalis turn dark then waiting for the wet-winged butterfly to dry it’s wings and be released, the kids soon found the milkweed plants crawling with caterpillars and even an egg. So we went back to the beginning, feeding the caterpillars and cleaning out the impressive amount of poop they created, then watching with delight as each one crawled up to hang upside down in a “J”. From there we would wait for the tell-tale sign that it was ready to create its chrysalis, and in three minutes the transformation would be over. Often we would miss this incredible feat because it happened so fast, but we did manage to watch a few. 

We took our little plastic box full of caterpillars with us to my parents, then my dad caught butterfly fever, and we scavenged the area around their house for milkweed and caterpillars. We will hold so many memories together revolving around the beautiful Monarch. By the time we moved away from Minnesota, there were 11 chrysali waiting to hatch, so we took seven with us and left four for my parents. The seven chrysali made the journey to our new home on the Missouri River, where we waited in anticipation for the transformation to be complete so we could release the butterflies. Last week we released the last butterfly to make the long journey south.

It’s easy to see the analogies with butterflies and our change of plans. We were once the caterpillar, munching along and making plans, now I feel like I am in the chrysalis, in the dark, not knowing what is happening but trusting that the time is being well spent in refining and making life beautiful. I’m not sure how long it will take to hatch, or what I will look like when it’s finished, but I’m excited to stop eating leaves and learn how to fly!