REBIRTH

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     "Once upon a time there was a wily little caterpillar that had many sure feet, which could take him any where he wanted to go.  He lived in a very nice large tree, with all sizes of limbs, branches, and leaves.  This particular caterpillar just loved to travel.

     "Occasionally, when our friend was out and about his business, he would frequently meet other creepy crawlers, and they invariably had a lot of things to discuss.  They always had a good time with each other.  Never were they afraid.  All of their wants and needs were provided in their natural habitat.

     "One day, all of a sudden, a humongous wind arrived, much to everyone's surprise.  Having never experienced this type of storm before, our little buddy had no idea how to act or behave.  You might say that he lost his grasp of things.  The wind blew long and hard enough until he was blown away from all of his familiar places. When he found himself lost, he gave up and let go.  Little did he know that there was a long fall ahead.

     "When he finally landed, he was no worse off from the long fall. He was just a little bruised and a little shaken by the turn of events.  The hardest part for him was that he had absolutely no idea at all of his whereabouts.  After he had regained a small amount of his composure, he straightened out and started looking around. Low and behold, he came across quite a few of his old acquaintances. At first, they gathered together and tried to build a giant pyramid, in order to get back to their familiar limbs, so they all huddled together.

     "After much effort of trying to get back to their starting place, where they just knew they would feel better, and be more at ease, one little buddy got a bright idea.  He was so tired of kicking and clawing, and getting punched in the stomach, gouged in the eyes, and all of his feet stepped on, he finally just let go absolutely.

     "The main reason that he was able to finally give up was that he, at last, found one comfortable spot, with some good neighbors, that he felt comfortable and safe with. Little did he know that he was soon to enter a cocoon period.  That was the strangest period of his entire life.  Gosh, did he ever experience some tremendously strange feelings.

     "Well, he could not very well go anywhere considering the different appearance that he was taking on - he was too ashamed of himself.  He wanted to see all of his old friends, but there was just no way he could make any sense out of all the things that were happening to him.  He finally just decided to sit things out and see what would happen next.

     "When he least expected it, the picture began to clear up a bit. He began to notice that the old fur that he had was changing into some funny looking fans on his new sides.  Not only that, but the whole shape of his body had changed.

     "Within a very short amount of time, he was able from here to begin to let go from his hiding place and glide to the ground below.  After gaining more strength, having fully recuperated from his fall, he began to flap those fans of his on a hot day and found out that he could actually fly, like the birds that he had always admired.  Since he could now get around much better than he could before, he began to eat different food, which seemed to make him a lot stronger.

     "One day, much to his own surprise, with the help of the wind that almost destroyed him, he found out that he could now really soar. Not only did he find himself much better off than he had ever been, shedding all of that old fur, but he had also gained some of the brightest and most spectacular colors that he had ever witnessed.  Needless to say, all's well that ends well, no matter what."

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