Artistic Coincidences: Part 2

I recently bought a caterpillar-to-butterfly kit online, one of the ones where they give you food and a cage and everything.  When the caterpillars came there where a total of seven.  As time went on they began to cocoon.  However, only six successfully made it to cocoon.  And after that, only five emerged from the cocoon to live as butterflies.  They lived in my apartment for almost a month; during that time I became very attached to them.  I would wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of their wings fluttering, I looked forward to seeing them after a long day; they became part of my life.  As I reflected on this experience I realized how telling the situation was.  I have always held my family sacred to me, and I often represent my family with butterflies.  The fact that only five butterflies lived represents each member of my family.  The fact that only five butterflies made it became more of an obligation rather than coincidence.  I knew that the butterflies had to become something much more than fleeting pets.  They needed to become part of my art practice.