to life, to life.

This afternoon, the pupa we adopted at Butterfly World (and named Chaia) hatched. We watched her flap her wings inside the safe confines of her container, indicating she was ready to leave us. I've gotten strangely accustomed to neurotically checking in on Chaia multiple times a day, worrying she's going to emerge when we're not home or can't immediately get to her. She had impeccable timing today, deciding to emerge shortly after Ethan awoke from his nap and was lazily munching on an afternoon snack.

We stepped outside and faced a ridiculously muggy afternoon to let Chaia free. Ethan excitedly smiled as he watched our beautiful butterfly flap her orange and black wings inside the jar. He watched intently as I pulled back the lid and let her fly away. She fluttered above his face, up past the trees and into the blue sky.

And then she was gone, fluttering higher and higher up into the sky until we could no longer see her. The sun stung at our eyes and we made our way back into the house. Ethan eyed the empty jar and then moved his eyes back towards the sky. Sometimes there aren't words for how incredible nature is or, even moreso, how magical it is experiencing the things we take for granted with our children.