Have you ever really watched the transformation process a caterpillar undergoes when it is turning into a butterfly? It’s amazing as children we loved it. We had swan plants in our backyard that attracted the monarch butterflies as a place to lay their eggs. It was wise to have several plants in the garden, as during a good season one plant could get inundated with caterpillars and if there wasn’t another plant to transfer some of the excess creatures to a culling had to be undertaken. This was an unpleasant task for a young child or even an adult if you were to go by the look on Dad’s face when he was the one to have to lead the extermination expedition, I mean it’s just not human nature to kill. It played havoc with your sense of good and evil- it was good thing to do as otherwise all the caterpillars would die as none of them would get enough nourishment from the limited volume of leaves on the tree; however it was evil as you were killing one of god’s creatures. It would be a much easier process to be part of if you didn’t have a soul. That said and done, try to plant a few of these trees so you are never faced such torturous decisions. Anyway, getting back to the transformation process, the caterpillars would eat their way through the whole plant and when the leaves were decimated and they were really, really fat the black, yellow and white grubs would attach themselves to a leaf or twig and make themselves into a chrysalis. The chrysalis is a hard skin that is exposed after the caterpillar sheds its skin for the last time.
The chrysalis of a monarch butterfly is a beautiful pale green colour with a line of gold dots along it. My mother used to bring these inside the house and hang them in a safe place for us to watch the transformation of the caterpillar into a butterfly. It meant not only great viewing for us, but that the chrysalis was safe from predators while it was so vulnerable. As the butterfly gets closer to hatching the chrysalis becomes opaque and then transparent until you can see the complete detail of the bold black and orange of its wings. When the transformation is complete the butterfly cracks open the shell that has been protecting it and emerges into the big world with its new mode of transportation – wings for flight that will let it travel vast distances if it would like rather than tiny little legs for crawling around a plant a few feet in height. So it sits on the edge of its shell or somewhere else safe like the lampshade mum has hung it on and lets its crumpled wings unfold and harden. Once we were sure the entire transformation process was finished we would gently take the butterfly outside and with much regret let out new pet go to seek its fortune in the big wide world.
We all hate to be in situations that make us feel uncomfortable, don’t we? One thing that can really make you feel that way is when you are around a guy that you like and you are flirting with him and then he drops the fact that he has a girlfriend on you. What do you do when that happens? It can be tough to figure out. You may still want to flirt with him, as it may still feel like it is okay to do so.
It’s very important that when you are dealing with an