the first monarch

Something I love about children, about teaching them, and being around them, is all of the firsts. There are big firsts: first step, first word, etc. Also, I really enjoy the seasonal firsts: The first robin, first snow, first day at the beach... etc.

Today I was checking out the garden(overgrown from rain, but pretty) and looking at the lavender(in a riot of bloom) and saw a monarch butterfly. The first monarch of the year!
It reminded me of the chrysalis we had last autumn, the one that gave me hope, and then some sadness, after our loss. So much of modern life is disjointed. But so much of fertility, of the natural world, is cyclical. This can be hard, esp. when dealing with infertility(passing your babies due date, after a loss, another childless holiday, etc)...
But, the cyclical world can be joyful too.



I watched the monarch, getting drunk on lavender nectar, and wondered about how early it is to see one, and why it has come. And I thought, "It could be the one that hatched last fall!" I've heard they return to the same place. Who knows?

Regardless, it was a lovely, hopeful thing to see.