I am 70 and my husband is 75;
our kids are adults with families of their own.
We’ve lived in Little Rock for fifty years;
It is time for a change.

We pack our RV and begin the lingering drive south;
here we will retire in our new home on the Palm Coast.
For now it’s goodbye to familiar faces; our beloved home now leaves us with a memory,
But we shall never forget the memories made there.

Every year I travel north and south alongside my flight of monarchs.
For days, we flutter freely across the sky longing to reach our summer home.
This time I will not go back but spend the rest of my time in the museum.
We fly over deserted plains and lush forests, a tiring journey but one that is worth it.
In the museum, I endure no threats of danger.

Roaming about the vivarium, with smiles to spot and hands to land on.
It feels like a tropical rainforest, the air is humid and clammy,
and smells of a freshwater river roaring off the edge of a cliff.
I flutter into the vivarium and realize this is my destiny.