Celebrating Liz


Hi Folks:

Mike’s sister Liz passed away 23 years ago today. Her greatest legacy is her children, who have grown up to be remarkable people in their own right. Liz was also a talented writer; unfortunately none of her stories are in digital format, which means that they’re tucked away safely in a box somewhere. To that end we thought we’d offer two of our stories instead, as well as a story about a story. All of them have to do with butterflies. Marcia’s first: Continue Reading →

He Says, She Says…

Hello, Dear Reader!

If this is your first visit to our ‘He Says, She Says…‘ posts and pages, then briefly what we do is pick a topic each week and write about it individually.  Neither of us reads what the other has written until we’re both finished with what we have to say.  Sometimes we agree, sometimes we don’t, and sometimes we go off in completely different directions.  All of that is encouraged in our home!  For us the start of this idea goes back a number of years, but we’ll leave that for another time.

Our topic today is ‘Transformation‘.  The idea for this comes from a section of a TV show a few months back that was talking about the monarch butterfly migration.  A great book on this is Sue Halpern’s ‘Four Wings and a Prayer: Caught in the Mystery of the Monarch Butterfly.’  In eastern North America every fall, these tiny winged insects fly hundreds or thousands of kilometres to live in several different areas in northern Mexico.  They overwinter there and begin heading north in the spring, laying eggs and then passing on, so that the butterflies that return to eastern Canada for example are several generations removed from the ones that began their flight south the previous year.  Still, somehow those great-grandchildren all begin to turn south in the fall and head to the same locations as their ancestors.  A hero’s journey indeed.

There is perhaps a more incredible journey before this, however, as egg hatches out to become larva (caterpillar), and caterpillar transforms into butterfly.  The same process happens with those caterpillars that become moths.  Spinning itself into a chrysalis (or cocoon), the caterpillar literally liquefies itself, breaking down into base components before reassembling itself into an entirely new form.  Dormant structures such as wings are created, and parts like the caterpillar’s extensive digestive system are given up to different purposes.

As humans we don’t undergo any such physical transformations in our lives, but many of us do undergo intense spiritual transformations that are no less remarkable.  This is what we wanted to talk about today.

Have a great week!

Hugs,
M&M

Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View