Defending your Milkweeds

In January 2018, I took possession of my new home in a very small town. My family went from living in a city with a population of 40,000 to a town with a population just under 4,000. When we moved in, our beautiful four acre country lot was buried in snow. Spring thankfully came early and I was eager to get outside and enjoy the nature. I weed whacked all the weird plants I had never seen before. I kept the lawn cut short with an old lawnmower the previous owners had left. We enjoyed the summer and hosted many bonfires. Flash forward a year to this summer. Something magical happened. Because my job was throwing a ridiculous amount of shifts my way, the lawn did not get the manicure it did last year. Things had time to grow. And grow they did! Big strange plants with broad oval leaves. As I sat outside one morning trying to find my inner goddess, my youngest daughter came sneaking out of the house to interrupt my sanctuary. She squatted down by these plants and quickly discovered they were home to a many footed friend. Caterpillars! Caterpillars mom!!! I abandoned my luke warm coffee and took a look myself. Indeed, about 20 caterpillars were easily visible on the many overgrown plants I now knew to be milkweeds. My daughter could not have been more delighted. She immediately plucked one from its happy leaf home and stuck it to her shirt exclaiming “she likes me!”. We called her older sister away from the TV she was glued to and everyone took turns examining the milkweeds and shouting gleefully when we had located another one. Big ones! Small ones! Some munching away! Others bopping their weird antennas around. It was truly a wonderful morning. After starring peacefully at this new upfront and close nature for about as week… it dawned on me that none of this would have been possible if I had weed whacked like I did last year. I actually got more joy and use from my patio this year because I had let it be. So much of life we are taught to control. We are taught to love nature but keep your yard tidy and your grass to an unnaturally short height. Well my friends, if you’re looking for beauty in your life, you can’t force it. You can’t control it. And you certainly can’t truly imagine how beautiful something can be until you let it fly free. Defend your milkweeds, encourage them to grow and I promise the butterflies will come. Take some time today to think of milkweeds in your life. The areas that you are trying to control and trying to force but are whacking them down before they can come to fruition. Let go. Let it be. And be amazed at the beauty that can be.