A Miracle in an Animal Cracker Container

About a week and a half ago my kids found a chubby green caterpillar in our garden.  They let him crawl around on their hands and then asked if they could keep him.  We found an empty plastic container and they filled it with rocks and sticks and leaves.  They named him Suction Cup.  And we all agreed that we would let him go at bedtime.

But we forgot to let him go.

The next morning he looked like this:

And by the next afternoon he looked like this:

We did some research online and learned that he (Suction Cup is obviously a boy's name) was a Swallowtail.  They stay in their chrysalis for one to two weeks.  We left him on the kitchen counter.  The kids peeked at him every once in awhile, but with no change they were losing interest.

Then, this morning, as I poured myself a cup of coffee, out of the corner of my eye I saw a flutter.

Fly away, Suction Cup.  Fly away. 

"It's death and resurrection. A butterfly is not a bug with wings, it's a whole new creature."   -Deepak Chopra