“Come on, little guys! Keep eating!” I was on my back porch, kneeling down next to a swamp milkweed plant, one of two plants that a client had given to my husband Steven.
“This is going to be so great!” I cried as I tipped a leaf back to show Steven where a tiny monarch caterpillar was busy munching away on the leaf.
I looked up at Steven and had to laugh. “I never thought I’d be so happy seeing something eating one of my plants!”
Steven turned another leaf over to point out an egg that was glued to the back of the leaf. “My client told me there was a bunch of eggs on this plant.”
“And caterpillars now, too!”
I leaned back on my heels and gently turned the pot. “Oh, there’s another one!” I pointed to one that was inching up the stem. “He’s headed for a new leaf.” I started to laugh again. “He’s a chubby little one!”
I got up and went over to the rocking chair. “That was so nice of your client to give those to us.” I sat down. “What got you talking about monarch’s with her?”
Steven sat down in the Adirondack chair. “After I was done taking notes for the estimate she showed me her garden and all of her milkweed plants.” He reached around and adjusted the pillow behind his head. “I told her that when you and Alex are on your walks you’re always coming home telling me how many monarchs you see.” He pointed to the milkweed plants. “Next thing I know I have two plants in my van!”
“Well, I love them!” I could see the biggest caterpillar from my rocking chair. “Just think in a few weeks we’ll have monarch butterflies all over the back yard!”
Steven laughed. “You do realize that they’re not going to stay in our yard.” he looked over at me. “Right?”
I leaned back in my chair. “We’ll see about that.” I picked up my phone and began to type.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m looking up plants that monarchs like.” I waved my hand around. “If we load our deck with what they like, they’re going to stay.” I said in a matter of fact way.
Our son Alex came out on the porch. “What are you guys up to?”
Steven looked over at him. “Your Mom is trying to figure out a way to force the butterflies to stay in our yard.”
“Not force!” I cried. “Entice.” I looked over at Alex and held up my phone. “I’m looking for ways to entice them to stay.”
Alex shook his head and he went over to the glider to sit down. “You know you two have the weirdest conversations.”
“Hey! What’s wrong with wanting the yard filled with monarchs?”
Alex looked over at Steven. “You know she’s going to get obsessed with this, right?”
“Hey! Who says I’m going to get obsessed?” I got up to go check on the caterpillars again. I could see the chubby one had found a new leaf. “That’s right little one. You keep munching away.”
Steven looked over at Alex and began nodding his head. “Yup. Completely obsessed.”
Slice of Life 