Hungry Caterpillars in My Kitchen

I found monarch eggs two weeks ago in the milkweed patch along the river path. I carried the leaves home, placed them in a jar, and waited for the eggs to hatch. I am never positive it will happen, and when it does, the caterpillars are tiny and black, so small I am never sure they are not just specks of dirt. My eight year old nephew came for a sleep-over that weekend and slept right beside the eggs. The next morning, they were eggs no more, they were caterpillars. For the past two weeks they have been eating and eating and eating. They have grown big and fat. Today the first one crawled up to the lid of the jar, fastened himself on, flipped upside down, and slipped out of his old skin and became a jade green chrysalis. Hard to believe that he is now becoming something completely different - a dream with wings.