Waiting for Transformation

The Black Swallowtail caterpillars have formed their chrysalises (Well, three out of the four have.  The smallest caterpillar is still in the mason jar eating parsley.).  Two of them intelligently attached themselves to a stick I provided for the purpose.  The third attached himself to a stalk of parsley that has since wilted. 

I read that they need room to spread their wings when they emerge, so I took the small sticks (and parsley stalk) out of the mason jar and taped them to a larger branch that I stuck in a vase.  That way, when the time comes, they'll have plenty of room and won't be stuck in the mason jar.  I've got a butterfly net and I figure I can catch them and release them outside. 

Strangely, the first caterpillar made a brown chrysalis and the other two made green ones.  I don't know why they're different colors. 

Somehow, all this chrysalis making seems like a metaphor for what's going on in my life.  Things are changing all around me.  The girls are leaving home and my life will never be the same again.  A twenty-one year chapter of my life is closing ... or at least becoming more peripheral.  Things are looking kind of bleak and unsettled. But we all know what happens to butterflies.  They transform.  The chrysalises don't look too promising, but here's hoping.