The Butterfly

The Butterfly

“Grammie! A butterfly!” Jenny said pointing to the garden.

“Beautiful! Let’s get closer.” The two of us moved slowly closer to the garden, Jenny almost shaking in excitement.

“It’s so pretty! Can we catch it?” Jenny said.

I knew we would get here one day. It often didn’t turn out well. Broken wings, squished bodies, or a butterfly or bug snatched up carefully and put in a bottle. Then after a while, forgotten, and forgotten to be released.

“Do you think you’re ready for that?” I asked.

“Huh?”

“This is a living being Honey, just like you are. A butterfly may be simpler than a person but they’re alive and we need to help keep them safe. Can we be really careful catching her?”

“I think so... but how?”

“I think they make butterfly nets so you can catch them without hurting them. How about we go to the store and get one before we try?”

“Will this one still be here?”

“I’m not sure, but if this is her garden, she probably comes here everyday. She gets her food from flowers.”

“If I kept her in the house she could eat off the Christmas cactus. It blooms at Christmas!”

“But what would she eat the rest of the year? I think maybe after we catch her, and look at her for a while, we should let her go.”

“Oh... do they sell butterfly food?”

I don’t know, but we grow butterfly food, right here in this garden...”

“Oh! Let’s not catch her! We can just plant more flowers for her and she’ll always stay close!”

I laughed, I couldn’t have planned this, it was perfect!

“OK! I said, Let’s go to the Garden Store! Then on the way home, ice cream!!”

“Whoopee!” said a very excited granddaughter.

Win, win!