Those in the classes of Janet Osburn, Sheila Ward, and Eloise Wynn at Bauer Elementary were presented with that challenge when Sherry Hodnett, Volunteer Bereavement coordinator for Home Hospice, brought them sealed plastic cups with caterpillars in them.

She explained that each child would get to care for a caterpillar, which would become a Painted Lady or Monarch butterfly in three to four weeks.

Being the free thinkers children are, one little boy didn’t want to be a mommy or daddy. “I want to be a brother,” he said. Whatever the relationship, the youngsters are “parenting” the worms until they are ready to emerge from their cocoons.

What is the connection between kids, caterpillars, and Home Hospice? Big Spring Home Hospice is preparing for its first Butterfly Release and Family Celebration, which will be from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Comanche Trail Amphitheater.

The butterflies will be collected in “critter carriers” and taken to the amphitheater, where they will be released, while names will be read as a way to show gratitude for the way lives have been enriched and brightened by those named.

The butterfly has long been a symbol of hope and new life, thus being an appropriate sign of thanks and honor for loved ones with whom we have shared moments and memories. Each individual or family may purchase a butterfly for $25. That donation will go toward building The Grace House in Midland, an eight-bed home for hospice patients who can no longer be cared for in their own home. The Hospice House in Odessa is a Home Hospice “end-of-life care” dwelling which has been in use for some time.

Hospice care seeks to assist the whole family. Their main goals are “to relieve pain and ease suffering, to allow individuals the dignity to make important decisions about how they want to be treated at life’s end, and to provide care and support for not only the patient, but the entire family,” according to their literature. Assisting families deal with grief after loss is also part of their focus.

The butterfly “parents” will be recognized at the release ceremony Sunday afternoon. They will have observed the cycle of nature from the caterpillar to the cocoon to the butterfly, a living science lesson, and in the process produced a symbol of renewal and resurrection for those with whom we share our memories.

“We feel like we are helping those who grieve for lost loved ones and also helping the youngsters experience the cycle of life,” asserted Hodnett. “Home Hospice is about life and helping people understand that death is a part of living.”