The Butterfly Garden
Yesterday I shared a little about our girl’s weekend trip to Austin and the incredible sunset we saw from Mt. Bonnell. The week has been full of so many magical memories and on the way here my daughter asked if we could go to a butterfly place. With all of Austin’s wildlife I figured there had to be one. I did a quick search and sure enough a few places popped up including this one. We arose yesterday morning for a quick breakfast stop at The Original Pancake House and since we were about a 15 minute minute drive away from the garden decided to add it to our itinerary for the day. It was definitely worth it! It’s also located by a food truck park and Mueller Lake Park so lots to do in the area!
Butterflies are fascinating to me. One of the few beings that go through complete metamorphosis from being a caterpillar into a creature that flies. They have some of the most intricate features and markings on them with such delicate wings. The Butterfly Garden is an open mile long walk you can take full of flower fields. Although most of the fields stop blooming during September, there were still a few anise hyssop flowers scattered among the trails and monarchs feeding off of them.
Monarch butterlies are pretty incredible! Did you know they travel up to 100 miles a day? Something so tiny has so much power behind those wings! Alot of the power comes from the food it ate when it was still a caterpillar. Monarch butterflies only live 2-6 weeks after they turn into a butterfly from being a caterpillar and it takes four to five generations of them to migrate from Northern America to Mexico each year. Another fact is that they are on the road to extinction.
I’ve been thinking alot about expectations lately and how so many of us seek instant gratification. A butterfly doesn’t turn into this powerful creature until the end of it’s life. That means all of the work that took place as a caterpillar is seen in it’s last few weeks on Earth. Similarly a rose spends most of it’s life as a plant or a rose bud not coming into full bloom until then end. I think it’s okay for us to recognize that life is a journey and most of the work we do and the growth experienced doesn’t show itself until we get further in life and look back.
I know for myself, I’ve experienced a ton of growth over these past two years and it wasn’t until after I experienced the growth I saw it took place. I read recently, “Life is lived forward but understood backward.” (Soren Kierkegaard). As I age I see that’s true. We understand things later, after the hardships and tribulations. So the next time you go through something tough or feel like you are not enough… look to the monarch butterfly as a reminder that you are still undergoing the process of change.
