Butterflies (Latitude Series)

In the highlands of the Sierra Madre an entire generation of monarch butterflies patiently waits together for the winter to turn. Every butterfly from all across the continent clings to each other in long skeins from the limbs of ancient pines in a single grove on a remote mountain. They huddle together and let the dark season pass. 

In the spring, they use the last of their strength to fly north. They die and the next generation begins. Their children are born with the longing to wander until they also can go no further. Each generation answering the call to roam until the children's children's children of those butterflies that held to each other on that distant mountaintop have gone so far and spread so wide that there is no more continent left for them to go.

In the stillness at the edge of the world a tiny spark ignites. They are finally far enough to hear the call of home. Inside their hearts, a compass finally awakes and the urge to escape is gone. A grove of pines where their ancestors once gathered summons them back and from across the thousands of miles; the energy of travelers coalesces into the power of a new goal. None of them have ever seen it, but they know with certainty where they are meant to be. The spark of desire growing into the bright flame of purpose as they rush towards the place where they somehow know they truly belong.

-Bryce Pettit