A Little Boy & His Bug's Life

It apparently isn't seen by the human eye very often...especially in a Mason jar.

In fact, the lifespan of a caterpillar...when abruptly plucked from its parsley stem by a little boy, filled with wonder and not-so-gently dropped into a glass container...is historically short. Very short.

However, we stumbled upon Superpillar and were witness to its (because I'm still unclear on how to identify caterpillar gender) miraculous transformation.

In a matter of days, our six creepy crawly friends that Little Man "rescued" from our neighbor's yard had settled in their new habitat (which I mandated that said habitat must stay on the shelf to keep our new friends from being "loved" to death).

Over the course of a few weeks, the smaller pillars accepted defeat and became one with the earth...a dust-to-dust type of ending.

The largest pillar...referred to as Superpillar above (and because Super Hunk refused to allow me to name him/her, certain I would inevitably get attached and grieve uncontrollably once it too met its Maker)...rallied and decided he wouldn't stand for caterpillar mediocrity.

Pardon the photos, they're raw!

He would spin his cocoon (it has a much more scientific name but I'm saving you from the science lesson) and emerge something better! You go, girl...boy...whatever!

Little Man and I watched and within three weeks, his cocoon (unscientific name) started to turn black. We had learned on the internet this was a Black Swallowtail so we knew the color change meant the end was near. Our little Superpillar was soon to become Superfly!

I kept a watchful eye on that silly jar, like a mother hen watching her eggs, anxiously awaiting our new friend. A two hour trip to town and a house of silence was all it took for Superfly to greet the world.

I'll admit it, I cried! Partially because I missed it (it's all about me), in part because we had been so excited, but mostly because God is so amazing and we witnessed it once again.

Little Man will forever remember Superfly and I will forever remember how I felt when he/she flew away. Yes, more tears!

We often talk about our miraculous little moment and hearing my son say "Metamorphosis" (that vaguely resembles "Grandpa Morris") never gets old!

God is super fly, all the time!