Loving someone throughout a lifetime means celebrating countless rebirths of who they are becoming. It involves letting go of the selves they are too weary to sustain, the parts they no longer recognize within. It means acknowledging the versions they have outgrown and the ones they never quite grew into. We often yearn for our loved ones to remain the same, even holding them accountable to their past selves. To be the caterpillar in the cocoon, comfortable for us to remember. Maybe in our eyes, we don’t see the butterfly because we have not yet left the cocoon ourselves.

Yet, with every season and with every falling of the leaves, the trees show us that even they too need to shed the leaves that no longer serve them. Letting go of the weight. Welcoming the new friends of the season, growing completely new, bright-colored leaves of life in the spring.

Then, without notice or alarm bells, we see the butterflies slowly break out of their temporary homes. Fly around. A rebirth of the most beautiful kind. We smile, try to get closer, capture on our phones and cameras if we can. Study the color of their wings, the way they fly, wondering where they are going next. We marvel at their beauty and forget that they were even caterpillars before.

-And-

Maybe that is our role, to journey with each other through each transformation. To love what unfolds along the way. Smile, get closer. Study the way we fly, wonder where we are going next. Marvel at the beauty of who we are today, in this very moment.