butterflies in the garage

 

No, this first picture is not my own monarch butterfly in my own hands in my own backyard. But it could be! A couple nights ago when I was pulling into my garage, I saw a bug fluttering around the light. Now, this is not an unusual occurrence, as bugs are always flitting in and around lights. Many children's movies have that trope, after all. But this time was different, because it was not your run-of-the-mill fly or locust or moth, but a giant monarch butterfly. I stayed watching it fly in and around the luminescent bulb for probably 15 minutes, first staying in my car, then getting out to try and get closer, and then rapidly getting back into my car after it came flying so close to me I yelped. It was beautiful, but it was also huge, and I am also famously afraid of bugs. Yes, even butterflies. I eventually creeped back out of my car and gave the butterfly a wide berth to show I respected it and did not want to be eaten. Although it was quite scary, it was also quite stunning. I had seen butterflies like this one before at field trips to the botanical gardens and arboretums and the subsequent trips to the butterfly gardens within, but I acquainted the species to places like that, around flowers and their kin, rather than in my dusty garage being obsessed with a flickering globe, which is, I suppose, why I was rather scared of it. To be fair, it was rather large, probably the size of the picture above, if I were to hold it. It was bright orange and had beautiful black markings resembling a spider web, and it flew around at a decent rate--maybe not the Butterfly Olympics, but the Trial Olympics, at least.  

I came back outside around three hours later, and the butterfly was still there, mesmerized by a light I suppose it thought was a star. I felt bad for the butterfly, for it being so entranced by something so mundane, that could kill it if it flew too close. Humans' tale of Icarus flying too close to the sun is applicable to butterflies, as well, is what I've learned. I hope he did not fall to the same tragic ending, and was able to escape from the trap that is light in a dark place.