My teaching partner hatched butterflies in her classroom.
One butterfly remained on Butterfly Release Day.
Butterfly Release Day went badly.
Here's the obituary we posted in the staff lounge:
A Thoughtfully-Written Obituary
for
Bart the Butterfly
Today we celebrate the short,
but meaningful, life of Bart the Butterfly: A true warrior among insects.
Bart’s life could never be
described as easy. Born in captivity, he lived the majority of his life in a
butterfly habitat upside down with his legs flailing in the air. (He may have struggled with undiagnosed
vertigo.) After a long weekend, Bart was mistaken for dead and thrown in the
trash. (Yes, we’re looking at YOU, Mrs. T…) Thankfully, he was rescued and
freedom was afoot. He was released between the protective limbs of the large
tree by the school's stage.
But he fell out.
Like five times.
So then his handlers took him
to a smaller tree, but he fell out of that one too.
Twice.
Finally, carried by the
cheers and goodwill of the growing crowd around him, he struggled his way to
the grass again and landed gently on the ground.
Where a bird ate him.
But not before he was the object
of a tug-of-war with another bird.
In all honesty, both birds
may have eaten him. Things got scrappy fast, making it hard to tell.
In any event, he was a
wonderful butterfly.
In lieu of flowers, a fund has been set up to pay for
the counseling needed after witnessing The Butterfly Bloodbath
of 2015.
Our staff wrote many kind messages on the memorial.
The candle remained unlit due to city fire regulations.
