Travelin' Jack Takes to the Skies!

It was morning, and my first thought upon waking up was our brand new butterfly. Had he made it through the night in the yard? I was also quite worried. He'd made several attempts to fly the day before, and had failed, clumsily. I worried that all that time in the chrysalis (33 days!) wasn't good for him. What if he had some kind of problem? What if our butterfly could not fly?

At about 6 a.m., I had decided, though, that putting the flying ability into a butterfly is well above my pay grade. These are not things a mortal can do. I prayed on it, and then I left it up to God. Please let our butterfly be able to fly, I prayed. It was a simple prayer. And then I tried to trust, and have faith.

My husband set up an observation station in the yard by the Mexican sunflower patch. We had a couple of chairs, tables, what-not. The Moose came out, showed interest. It was sunny and nice out. Travelin' Jack began to open and close his wings.

I had other things I needed to take care of, and I did those. Around 10 a.m., I walked over, grabbed my camera, took some photos of the butterfly. And as I got there, he made his first tiny, successful flight! WELL DONE!!! I hollered! I fist-pumped! I offered encouragement!

He landed on the fencing around the sunflower patch, climbed back up. It almost seemed like he was doing stretches, exercising his wing muscles. Working out! Building strength, getting ready to fly. "He's still thinking like a walking bug," I said; "He needs to start thinking like a FLYING bug!"

I went into the house, and when I came back out, my husband was pointing to one of the Norway spruce trees out front. I guess he'd heard me! There was Travelin' Jack, pretty high up in the tree! Well DONE, butterfly!

My husband reported that as soon as I left, the butterfly flew over his head, stopped for a second to SIT ON HIS HEAD, just a gentle touch, and then flew up to the tree. I giggled to think of it - had it been some kind of special butterfly baptism, a laying on . . . of wings? A thank-you to the guy who watched over him?

We sat in our chairs with our eyes to the skies. Or to the trees, rather. We didn't care what the neighbors thought. We were hanging out with our butterfly. Then there was a quick orange blur, as the butterfly flew to a yellow tree nearby. A beautiful flight! I got a few shots. As it turns out, this was the final photo I ever took of Travelin' Jack, his wings in the sun, heading for the sky.

I turned around a few minutes later. He was gone. Just . . . gone. Silently, stealthily, like some kind of orange ninja butterfly. I wiped my eyes. Pondered at the miracle we had just witnessed. Said a quick Thank you, to the one who put the flying ability inside the butterfly.

Bon voyage, Travelin' Jack! Safe travels!

Oh, and if you live south of me, perhaps one day in your yard, you will see a tiny orange blur go by. Give him a hearty hello and offer him some late-season perennials in your yard. Be sure to give him our love. You know what, we miss him already, our Travelin' Jack.

Our soundtrack song is John Denver and Olivia Newton-John, with Fly Away.