Metamorphosis

Spring has arrived . . . at least we think so, anyway. Mother Nature hasn’t quite made up her mind yet, but I figure it’s bound to happen sooner or later, right? Hopefully?

Birds. Flowers. Trees budding. Mowing the lawn. Mulch.

And Bugs!

Not a real fan am I. I know it’s a necessary evil. My niece, Nadine who is an entomologist, would argue that most bugs aren’t evil at all. Okay, I’ll give her that, but both of us can agree that some are downright distasteful if not destructive. Carpenter ants. Fleas. Ticks. Termites. Wasps. Flies. And on and on.

Some bugs are downright ugly, if not creepy.

Think about maggots . . . or not. White slimy wormy things. Nothing really cute about them. Kind of, well, gross! I think caterpillars are not only ugly but a bit creepy. They aren’t in the cute category. They’re fuzzy and have a bazillion legs. Again, just . . . gross!

But the interesting thing about maggots and caterpillars is that both of them begin as something and end up something else. Maggots are the larva of flies. In both cases, a nuisance, a pest and don’t serve a real purpose other than to bug us . . . pun intended. Caterpillars begin ugly and creepy, but end up as something quite beautiful . . . butterflies (moths, too, but we’ll focus on butterflies).

The process is Metamorphosis, which is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. In other words, from one thing into another thing. (I can copy and paste as well as anyone.)

Maggots are ugly to begin with and end up as a nuisance and a pest. Caterpillars are ugly to begin with and end up delicate and beautiful.

I think sometimes each of us undergoes a kind of Metamorphosis. Perhaps, some of us should undergo a kind of Metamorphosis.

I think we’ve all known individuals who start out as something quite different from the individuals they are now. And it goes both ways: from not so desirable to desirable and from desirable to not so desirable. Much of it depends upon life events: illness; death; some life circumstance.

In my own case, I think my family and I- individually and as a family- changed quite a bit with the death of my son, Wil. For me, I don’t take things for granted as perhaps I once did. I view time and moments as precious commodities. Oddly, I believe I’ve become more hopeful and my faith has deepened. Not that we were ever far apart physically or emotionally, I think our family is even closer than it once was.

People can change. Each of us might experience our own personal Metamorphosis.

But my question to you is not if we change or even how we change or what the cause was or is for our own personal Metamorphosis. I want you to consider something quite different than the obvious path I could take you down.

The question(s) is this: when someone changes, especially from bad to good or undesirable to desirable- however you want to phrase it- how long do you hold onto the older version of that person? How long do you refuse to recognize the difference, the change, the Metamorphosis that has taken place in that individual? When exactly does that picture of that person change focus for you?

It seems to me that there are times we refuse to recognize that individuals can, do and should change. We keep that mental picture, that memory stuffed in the back of our mind . . . our heart much like we stuff an old photo into our wallet and we hang onto that image until, well, forever. We never really recognize that an individual underwent a personal Metamorphosis caused by one thing or another, both good and bad, and now, that person is changed. His or her thinking. His or her feeling. His or her values and beliefs and loves.

And perhaps the individual who was once desirable has, for one reason or another, become undesirable, or once was good and is now bad. Perhaps we focus too long and too much on what that person is now without realizing that once upon a time, he or she was once someone completely different- and if changed, perhaps that same individual can change back. Because change is never permanent. By very definition, change is dynamic, is active and not passive. And we can change too. Perhaps we should change and need to change. Perhaps. Something to think about . . .

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

I had the opportunity to be interviewed in advance of my new book, Caught in a Web, launching April 26, by Fiona Mcvie from Ireland. She asked some really interesting questions and I enjoyed myself. If you are interested, you can read it at https://wp.me/p3uv2y-7Km

And, I received the nicest review from Diane Donovan, Senior Reviewer for Midwest Review:

http://bit.ly/2GtdsXL   

If you are interested in getting a copy of Caught in a Web, in the thriller/suspense genre, it is now available for preorder at http://bit.ly/2GtdsXL . If you purchase your book prior to the publication date of April 26, 2018, you may use the promo code: PREORDER2018 to receive a 10% discount. I hope you check it out.

For those of you in the Fredericksburg, VA area, I will be selling and signing, Caught in a Web, April 28 Porter Library in Stafford from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

May 5 England Run Library in Stafford/Fredericksburg from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

May 12 Salem Church Library in Spotsy/Fredericksburg from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Please feel free to connect with me at:

Twitter at @jrlewisauthor

Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author

Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI /