The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough~Rabindranath Tagore

We are fortunate to live in a city that houses the world’s largest butterfly museum. This past weekend my daughter and I decided to venture into this butterfly wonderland. As a little girl, I chased butterflies in our neighborhood. I remember begging my father to get a net to capture these treasures. I never successfully trapped these beauties, but this glimpse of my past flickered as I walked through the greenhouse and watched as my daughter tried to chase the butterflies so that one may land on her finger.

Watching the butterflies flitter around, I gasped at the array of colors. These were butterflies that I never encountered in the past. Blues, reds and whites speckled the green landscape and landed on various flowers. Children laughed and giggled and adults seem to take their cue, gasping with sighs of wonder at how fast they moved about and within an instant, gone.

Everyone appeared to focus on the moment and, of course, the metaphor seemed appropriate. Most butterflies only live for a month and many live less because of predators, disease and large objects, like vehicles. I wondered if all just focused on the moments knowing that they are short, how our view of life might evolve. I’ve documented my propensity to not live in the present, but to anticipate time that hasn’t yet arrived.

With each photograph that I took one phrase seem to gain traction in my mind: Honor the present. It seemed so easy, standing there, watching adults and children mulling and interacting with the butterflies captured by what unfolded in front of them.

Moments, not months. Isn’t that what life is about?