Life Cycles

For Ellie's 8th birthday, she received one of those butterfly kits.  You know the kind.  It has the collapsible, nylon cage, magnifying glass, and coupon to send away for your own caterpillars that will go through the life cycles and eventually turn into real life butterflies.  It was a perfect gift for our critter girl.  Her own science lab in real life.

Unfortunately for Ellie, she had a mom who forgot to send away for the caterpillars until it was nearly too late!  By the time I rediscovered the coupon code and directions (about a month after her birthday), we had a very narrow delivery window in order for the creatures to arrive before we left for Colorado to enjoy the butterflies before we move to Albania.

Thankfully, the caterpillars arrived earlier than predicted and we enjoyed watching them quickly grow in size and then wrap themselves up in self-spun cocoons.  Unbeknownst to me though, the next stage was the most fragile. While they hung precipitously from tiny threads attached to the lid of their acrylic jar we were instructed not to move them until they emerged!

Unfortunately they weren't to emerge until well after our arrival at MTI.  That meant we had to immobilize our little butterfly cage as best we could in the back of our minivan. In spite of our best efforts, it nevertheless bounced and jostled across nearly 1,000 miles of interstates and two-lane roads until we reached our destination in Colorado.

By the time we arrived, three of the six cocoons had fallen to the base of the cage.  Grateful for the three that remained, we placed the cage in Ellie's classroom for all of the children to enjoy when hatching day arrived.

I have to say, I have felt like I could identify with those little cocoons, hanging on upside down for dear life.  As the weeks have wound down to this home stretch before our departure, my world seems to be shaking and swaying with no promise of smooth roads or stopping anytime soon.  For someone who considered herself pretty even keeled, the combination of transitions, decision making, and lack of structure these past twelve months (particularly during the week leading up to our departure which included two family birthdays and packing for Colorado AND Albania) have tested my ability to 'hold it together' at times.  There were days I was glad to just be hanging on and not laying at the bottom of my 'cage'!

Today marked one week at MTI and the structure of classes, (now) familiar faces, and even having set meal times is serving to smooth out the sense of constant upheaval of the previous month. To be sure, we are still having to make decisions related to our departure (do we need to purchase more water filters for our filtration system?  have we notarized our updated will?  did I send away for the documents we need for our residency application?), but the overall structure to our days has been surprisingly stabilizing for all of us.  It's a good reminder for me of the importance of creating a structure to our schedule to take over to our new life in Albania as we seek to make our transition as smooth as possible. We know the hardest parts are yet to come, but hopefully what awaits on the other side is something beautiful.

After much struggle, the first butterfly emerged on Friday afternoon.  We brought the cage back up to our room where we could be sure the butterfly had food to eat until classes resumed and we could return the cage today.  A second one emerged on Saturday.  Then on Sunday much to our surprise four more butterflies emerged, including the three that had dropped to the bottom of the cage!  We all marveled at the transformation we witnessed and rejoiced that life had not been lost when those three chrysalis' had fallen.

While I am no where likening myself (yet) to having attained a transformation like our six little butterflies, I do appreciate the promise they represent -- that change and struggle can produce something beautiful.