Change

From now on, when I lament that change is hard I will think of the woolly bear caterpillar. If in a week’s time a little creature can go from this




To this



What change am I capable of if I set my mind to it? What wild transformation am I capable of?
In early November Mikaela and I saw a woolly bear climbing up the side of our house. We brought him inside and looked up woolly bears on the web and found a site that gave a very brief explanation of how to bring them inside for the winter and then watch them make a cocoon in the spring. We decided to try it. We made a container and fed our caterpillar grass until he curled up into a ball on the bottom. Hibernation and death look a lot alike. Over the winter we would look at him unmoving and curled up in the bottom of our container. Had we cared for him correctly? Was he protected enough from the winter? We would forget about him and then remember and brush the snow off the container and observe his curled body. Frankly, I wasn’t holding out much hope. And then at the end of March, he was climbing up the stick again! We were so pleased! Mikaela started feeding him grass again. We fed him for almost a week when we saw he was at the top of the stick and not moving again. Overnight a thin web covered his body. The next day the covering was brownish orange like his little body. It looks as if all his woolly fur came off him and transformed into a blanket to cover him. When you hold the cocoon up to the light you can see his shrinking body. It feels truly miraculous. In a little more than a week’s time he will be an Isabella Tiger Moth. What an accomplishment!
How does it know it is ready for change?
Did it resist climbing up the stick telling itself, well maybe tomorrow, tomorrow I will change?
Did it curl up in its cocoon saying, oh god, I can’t do this? This is too hard and scary.
How will I change today?