Saving A Butterfly

Ever wonder about the value of your day? Today was a rough one for me -- as union Health and Safety rep, I've spent most of my week since returning from vacation, and all of the morning today, dealing with a serious issue at my office. There's more to come and I'm not sure how well we'll be able to resolve it.

But several of us pulled together to save one of these small beauties which had somehow found its way into our stuffy old office.


It's a Mourning Cloak butterfly (pictured here on the Fermi National Accelerator Lab's website, of all places), and one of our students found it flying up against the glazed skylight in the hallway. It flew around and around, up and up, only to bump against the glass and begin the sequence all over again. I grabbed a broom and gently tried to shoo it away towards an open window, all the while being very aware that I could break its delicate wings.

It finally stopped to rest. We found the tallest employee available, the ricketiest ladder known to humankind (Health and Safety, hello!), and a Tupperware container. Somehow it was a magic combination. After a few false starts, our little friend flew into the container, the lid was gently applied and the entire apparatus handed over to another student who rushed to an open window, held the container out, and slowly lifted the lid. Out flew the Mourning Cloak, dipping down down down towards the parking lot and then whoosh! one big swoop up into sky that was as blue as the polka dots on the butterfly's wings.

My heart lifted right up into the sky with it.