Chasing Butterflies

Chasing butterflies in our house means getting easily distracted. It comes from when Adam, the future entomologist, was little and would literally chase butterflies...or ladybugs...or ants...or whatever bug crossed his path. Even if it meant going in the wrong direction. I had to watch him every minute when we went on a walk. Or even when he was playing in the yard. He would be oblivious to everything but the little creature that had caught his attention. He still loves bugs, but has worked hard to learn to not chase butterflies in other areas of his life.

But today, I did a little butterfly chasing of my own. Literally. The boys have a summer job mowing our neighbor's lawn. Today was Adam's turn, but he'd never done it without Arrty nearby and wasn't quite ready to fly solo yet. So Julianna and I went over with him. We sat and talked and played and finally decided to see if we could catch some butterflies. (She was prepared with a net and bug box.) So off we went to see what we could find. Right away we saw a few, but they were fast. Faster than me, at least. I knew I'd have to kick up my butterfly catching game if I was going to catch any for my butterfly loving daughter. So the next time I saw one, I took off after it. I ran. I ran after a little butterfly through the tall grass with a net stretched out in front of me. All  I saw was those little orange wings in the green grass with the blue sky above us. And guess what. I caught it! I caught that little butterfly. And it made me happy.

For one moment I wasn't a 40 year old mother of three who's been married almost 20 years. I was a little girl with a net running through the field chasing after a butterfly. There was nothing but me and the wind and the butterfly. Just for a moment. Then I turned around and saw my sweet little girl looking at the net and heard her say, "Mommy, did you get it?!" I smiled and was back. And was able to share my joy with her. This sweet girl who was the inspiration for the chasing in the first place.

We ended up catching one more, a blue one. And seeing at least five other kinds. We put flowers in the bug box with them and watched them with a magnifying glass. Fascinating and beautiful. Easily one of God's most perfect creations.

So today I chased butterflies. And I loved every minute of it.