on metamorphosis and metaphors

The boys were recently given a chrysalis to observe, with a fascinating golden thread and a post-it-note hatch date of 9/4. Early Saturday morning, right on time, the monarch emerged. The boys identified her as female, noticing thick veins and no back dots. She practiced opening and closing her wings and made more of a racket in the plastic container than any of us considered a butterfly could ever make. The next day the boys took her to neighbor Deb's cutting garden. Her release was fast, gone in a blink. One beautiful word, next.