From Caterpilly to Butterflight

From Caterpilly to Butterflight

Metathesiophobia: The fear of change.

“God sure did make you a caterpillar, but don’t you think He created you to also become a butterfly?”

Those were the words that little Caterpilly echoed in her mind over and over again as she sat at breakfast with Momma, Daddy, and her little brother Zip. Her Grandma Flutter said those words to her not just once, but a few times, months ago. Her grandma always seemed to know what to say, but Caterpilly almost never liked hearing it right then. 

The first time she heard these words, Caterpilly was upset. Caterpilly wasn’t upset because she didn’t have wings yet; she was upset because she didn’t want to get wings! She liked being a caterpillar, and she knew how much work it’d be to transform into a butterfly.

Just as she was about to get a pretend umbrella out because of the pity party she was throwing for herself, Grandma Flutter slowly flew overhead to sit down to have breakfast at their leaf table. “Little Caterpilly, God sure did make you a caterpillar, but don’t you think He created you to also become a butterfly?”

Caterpilly said nothing, but she thought about everything. She thought about what Grandma Flutter said, and Grandma said it many times that week because this was the week… the week Caterpilly was going to become a butterfly!

Just like her momma taught her, Caterpilly made her cocoon. She nestled herself inside until she couldn’t see Grandma Flutter, brother Zip, or Momma and Daddy anymore. She almost thought it was nice to be on her own to get this over with. But after a while, almost as if someone tapped her on the shoulder, she started to repeat the words her daddy taught her…

“Push left, push right, and with all your might, and before you know it, you’ll take flight. Push left, push right, and with all your might, and before you know it, you’ll take flight.”

…and he was right! Before she knew it, she pushed out of that cocoon and looked left and looked right, and she saw her brand-new wings! It was beautiful! All she could think of was Grandma Flutter, and her words from earlier.

Caterpilly wanted to get to her family so fast that when she tried to fly, she fell to the ground. But she quickly flew back up and flew straight to where her family gathered most… but the leaf table was empty.

They were under a huge sunflower, all facing away from Caterpilly. At first, she felt a little annoyed because she just did the single most important thing ever and they weren’t paying attention. As she flew closer, she saw Momma’s face, and she was crying. Oblivious, she started to say “this is a happy thing, me turning into…”

She stopped abruptly as she noticed little Zip bumping against Momma’s side as if he didn’t see her crying. Daddy just hovered there without a smile on his face. Caterpilly saw Grandma Flutter asleep.

“Be quiet or you’ll wake Grandma Flutter!” Caterpilly felt angry and yelled at Zip. Momma cried even louder and flew quickly to Caterpilly, and gave her butterfly kisses. The Caterpilly realized… Grandma wasn’t going to wake up.

Then Momma said…

“It was so beautiful and so sad. We all wanted to watch you transform, especially Grandma Flutter. So we all turned to your cocoon and waited until you pushed out. And just as you pushed out of that cocoon, we turned to see Grandma’s face, but she fell asleep and we couldn’t wake her. But she told us yesterday something very important, because she knew you’d leave your cocoon soon… she said ‘when Caterpilly gets her wings and takes flight, her name should be changed from Caterpilly to Butterflight.’ So that’s your new name… if that’s okay with you, dear?”

Without any words, Caterpilly’s wet eyes blinked out a couple big tears as she nodded to Momma in agreement.

Caterpilly  - well, Butterflight - hovered effortlessly with her new wings and went to Grandma Flutter to give her butterfly kisses. When she did, some neighborhood ladybugs grabbed Grandma Flutter on the leaf she laid on and flew her up to where all bugs go when this happens: to the other side of that sunflower, where all kinds of flowers grow. Butterflight flew up as high as she could until she reached a cloud and saw the flower field below her and she said, “Goodbye Grandma Flutter. I love you so much.”

Then she flew back down to her family below because she knew she’d have to help brother Zip transform into a butterfly soon, just as God helped her to do through her family - especially through Grandma Flutter.

***

7 MONTHS LATER

“Zip, take it easy. You can’t rush these things. You might be taking longer than me learning to fly, but you did the hard part yourself!”

It had been about a week since Zip transformed. Butterflight did give him the tips she was given, but she knew Momma and Daddy let her share them with Zip more for bonding reasons. It wasn’t like she came up with those tips herself.

Grandma came to mind all the time. The day before Zip got into his cocoon, the words “God created you to become a butterfly” slipped out of Butterflight, and she smiled knowing she had that ingrained into her mind long before it meant anything to her, and now she could keep it going. Of course, she missed her grandma, but she knew her legacy was in them.

Now if only she could get Zip to learn how to fly…

***

ABOUT THE STORY

While I wrote this years ago for some kiddos I cared for at a Christian preschool in 2015, this story didn't come to life until much more recently. It was shared here on Reedsy with a handful of minor grammatical adjustments and additions in the body, but for the most part remains the same. I wanted to maintain the integrity of how I wrote it in a stage of my life where my writing wasn't as polished and developed as it is becoming now.

Just like in biblical stories, people's names got changed and usually during pivotal moments in their lives. It seemed fitting Caterpilly's name would change to Butterflight during her pivotal moment, and at the request of her Matriarchal figure, no less.

Hopefully this story can touch on hard life lessons such as fearing change, grief, and even learning about who you are and what you can overcome. For children, this is foundational and difficult at times. This story might help dampen the sting of those big feelings.

The major difference in the ending is I've added a continuation to satisfy word count parameters with the new Butterflight helping Zip prepare for flight after his transformation.

You can see the original ending in my less glamorous grammar glory in the link below. I’ll eventually make sure the StoryJumper version has my Reedsy adjustments.

https://www.storyjumper.com/book/read/30173656/From-Caterpilly-to-Butterflight