Beautiful Butterfly

Stephen has become quite the little backyard naturalist. He is quite intrigued by all of the little creatures that live in our yard. It is not uncommon to have 2 or 3 make-shift bug boxes hanging out on the deck full of his latest finds. Believe it or not, I actually helped to contribute to his latest discovery. I found a caterpillar on one of the carrot plants in our garden. I made Stephen pick it up because I of course choose not to directly interact with the creepy crawly things. I simply admire them from afar. However, I do encourage Stephen's curiosity of such things. I have wonderful memories of sitting outside at dusk with my father and watching spiders spin webs in the doorway of our garage. It was one of the most fascinating things I had ever seen. I want Stephen to have memories like these to look back on when he is grown and raising his own children. Anyhow, back to the caterpillar. He collected the caterpillar and then we of course went right to the computer to find out what kind it was. (The caterpillar picture above is from the internet.) We found out that he had collected a Black Swallowtail Caterpillar. He kept the caterpillar in a Gladware tub and made sure to keep the fresh carrot tops coming. After about 2 weeks, he went out to feed the caterpillar and found instead a bright green chrysalis. I cannot even put into words the excitement that went through that child's body! I'm glad that something so simple can bring him such joy. The hard part now, was waiting to see what the butterfly that would emerge was going to look like. Yesterday afternoon (Thursday) as Stephen was getting his bike out of the garage, I heard a loud squeal and was afraid that something had happened. Stephen came running into the house, box in hand screaming "IT'S OUT! IT'S OUT!" Lo and behold, there was a beautiful butterfly in the gladware container. We let her go in the backyard and watched as she flew away in the bright blue sky. When I looked at Stephen, he had the biggest smile on his face and said, "There she goes. Maybe she'll come back to visit." It's moments like these that I am so full of love for this child that I could absolutely burst. Just the pure and simple joy that he is able to find in the tiniest of creatures reminds me that no matter how ugly the world around us gets, you can always find little bits of beauty somewhere. I hope that as Stephen gets older and things get a little tough, that he will remember moments like these and be inspired!