Re-Entry

Arriving back home this afternoon after being away for 5 days, and on the eve of the busy season that preludes Christmas, feels a bit like re-entry.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and got to celebrate the very special event of my mother-in-law and father-in-law's 50th wedding anniversary. We had a party with some wonderful food and a lot of friends and family who love this precious couple. Their lives and fifty years of love and commitment to each other are an inspiration. My husband and I are so thankful to have their example of a marriage that lasts!

We are also thankful that our kids have become pretty good car-riders and the 7 hour drive each way is much easier than it was a few years ago!

Once home, I set to the tasks of unpacking, making dinner, and tackling laundry after 5 days of not doing a single load of wash!

My kids and husband were playing outside when my daughter suddenly came running in, she'd remembered the caterpillar and wanted to check on her.

I'd debated actually taking the jar with us on the trip because I was afraid the moth or butterfly would emerge from the cocoon while we were gone and then be trapped in that jar, but I'd forgotten completely about it since returning home. We grabbed the jar, my husband came in, and we figured out that the moth had emerged from the cocoon, but when we found it among the leaf debris in the bottom of the jar, we thought it was dead. My husband commented that it was still cool that it had actually come out of the cocoon and went back out to resume the football game with our boys. But, as my daughter realized it was dead, she burst into tears. And I felt terrible that the moth had died trapped in that jar, and very guilty for not taking it with us on the trip!

I called my husband back to help with a moth funeral and consoling our daughter, but when he took the jar out to the yard he began yelling, "It's alive! It's moving!"


We got it out of the jar and the moth flew away!
I've never been so happy to see a moth flying around in all my life!

It was like a pre-Christmas miracle!

Bye Caroline the caterpillar-turned-moth! I'm so glad we didn't kill you!