All is Well

A friend of mine lost his battle with cancer this week.  The day he passed a female butterfly arrived in my atrium laying eggs on my recently regenerated Milkweed plants.

The butterflies have symbolized life and death from the beginning.  Not just within their own life cycle but also in relationship to my world.

Monarch butterflies first arrived in my atrium in May 2009.  Shortly after discovering my first caterpillars my healthy 18-year old cat, Cinder, suffered a stroke.  Her prognosis was unknown.  I was working from home and for about a week I kept her close.  She stumbled around initially, but as time passed I helplessly watched her deteriorate to the point where she couldn’t get up.  The backdrop to this drama was life.  The floor-to-ceiling glass wall in my office looked out onto my atrium where funny little caterpillars grew fat on Milkweed plants, transformed into jewel-like chrysalises and finally emerged as stunning butterflies. I had never seen anything like it. The butterflies were a gift and somehow made Cinder’s passing more bearable. They reminded me of the magic in life.

This is a photo of a Lorquin’s Admiral butterfly and was taken at my brother’s house. These butterflies remind my sister-in-law of her mother because on the day her mother passed, one of them lingered at the house.

There are numerous myths and legends about butterflies going all the way back to ancient times, many of them about death and rebirth. Many believe butterflies represent the souls of those who have recently died. The Aztecs in particular believed that the dead would visit relatives in the form of a beautiful butterfly to assure them that all was well.

And so armed with these stories and memories of my friend I will watch over this new generation of Monarchs. For it is not merely coincidence that life and death occurred on the same day. Monarch butterflies are known to travel great distances and so it is my hope that one of mine will find its way to someone who needs to know that all is well.

“The caterpillar dies so the butterfly could be born.  And, yet, the caterpillar lives in the butterfly and they are but one.  So, when I die, it will be that I have been transformed from the caterpillar of the earth to the butterfly of the universe.”  — John Harricharan