Butterflies and Milkweeds

‘Idál (Justice), 1 Jalal (Glory), 165 B.E. – Wednesday, April 9, 2008 about 3:19 PM PDT

One of my fondest memories of my childhood concerns butterflies and milkweeds. Every year milkweeds would grow in my grandparents' yard. Either my grandmother or my grandfather would remove them, but one or two would return. No matter how hard my grandparents tried to get rid of the milkweeds, there would be at least one in the yard all year.

The milkweed that remained always had a butterfly chrysalis hanging from it. After the chrysalis formed my grandparents would never remove the milkweed. The let the milkweed remain until the butterfly emerged. We would watch the chrysalis everyday until the butterfly emerged. It was a struggle for the creature to emerge from the chrysalis, but when it did it was beautiful. The wings were dry and the butterfly would take off and fly away.

The tenacity of the milkweed to continue to grow, even after they were dug up always amazed me; however, the butterflies efforts to emerge from the chrysalis that brought tears to my eyes. Perhaps that's why I can't give up, perhaps that why I keep trying and struggling even when life gets difficult.