One summer day when I was about 8 years old (though I may have been 9) I was outside playing in the early morning hours. I was in front of the neighbors house and noticed an injured butterfly. I must note that the butterfly may not actually have been injured. I pretty much assumed that any creature which allowed me to capture it must be, in some way, ill or incapacitated.
I knelt down and picked up the "injured" butterfly and decided to rescue it. While I was at it I decided that I would go ahead and rescue all of the butterflies. How does one rescue butterflies you might ask?
Well, let me tell you how my 8 (or 9) year old self did it. First I grabbed our wading pool and put it in the garage. Then I filled it with sticks and leaves and flowers. I called it my butterfly hospital. Then I went around the neighborhood in search of patients. I brought all of the butterflies I could catch (not very many) and placed them in the wading pool. I figured they would not fly away because they were injured. My ultimate goal was to nurse them back to health.
Well, this flight of fancy (pun intended, sorry) was pretty short lived. I think the hospital was pretty much empty within a day or two. I don't think that I actually found a single injured butterfly. They all made their escape and ditched out of my hospital.
Image taken from http://www.butterflypictures.net/images/butterfly3.jpg
7 comments:
Well, weren't you a compassionate little kid! I'm glad you nursed them back to health so well.
This reminds me of how I would force lizards to play with my G.I. Joes. I'd capture them and then decide how they would be involved in my daily scenarios. That too was short lived.
oh, the joys of being little. when our greatest cares were injured butterflies and how to nurse them back to health . . . or which tree needed to be climbed, or where to ride bicycle to next. you know, those sorts of things.
the butterfly picture was perfect - as it is raining and raining and raining and raining here today.
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I love kid logic! How when you're young, what you think automatically becomes reality — anything is completely reasonable and possible. When I was eight, I had convinced myself that I could teleport after watching Star Wars.I sat on our driveway all day trying to "will" myself across the street. Did I mention this was in July?
Interesting, your husband has made an album! That's enviable. :-) My husband also dreams about that because he used to be a musician. Now he just doesn't have the time. Or the studio...
Thanks for stopping by my blog today :) I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels that way.
I was worried reading this butterfly post you wer going to say at the end that they all drowned - eek! I'm glad for them that they escaped ;)
What a sweet memory! We truly think anything is possible at that age, don't we?
I never rescued butterflies, but when I was 8, a friend and I decided we were going to make a robot. A real one, and boy, would our teachers be impressed! We started collecting broken glass (the horrors of this idea now!) every day at the playground, and harboring it behind one of our favorite trees (an arbor vitae). We really thought we could do it!
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