One of the Nature’s most loved creations must be butterflies. Butterflies are very beautiful, small and delicate and no wonder why people inspire them to create art and cherish them.
Romy McCloskey has quite a few reasons to love them and cherish them more than most. The story of Romy that we know, begins with the explaining the loss of her mother, as a victim to cancer several years ago. Her mother told her that her spirit will linger on after in a different form, so she would know that she’s still present.
“She told me, ‘Romy, don’t worry. Whenever you see butterflies, just know it’s me checking in on you to let you know I’m OK, and that I love you,’” said Romy.
Since then, Romy has decided to take care of butterflies so the world can have more of them. Whenever she finds caterpillars in her garden, Romy brings them inside so they can metamorphose safely without ending up as victims of predators.
Then she lets them go into the wild.
She has successfully grown dozens of butterflies but she had a little problem just with one. One of the new grown butterflies didn’t develop a full wing. She knew that if she didn’t solve the problem, the butterfly will never fly, and could merely survive on its own.
“I couldn’t bring myself to put him down,” Romy said. “I figured I would keep him inside and feed him until he died.”
But then she got an idea. A friend of Romy had instructions on how to repair a butterfly’s wing, so she sent her a guide. All she needed was a towel, a small wire, contact cement, cotton swabs, toothpick, tweezers, scissors, and a little bit of talcum powder.
Luckily, she had the body of a butterfly that didn’t survive. She crafted a transplant wing from there.
She got the damaged butterfly onto the towel and secured her with a wire, so it can’t move, but also not damaging her at the same time. Really carefully, she worked on the wing, and although seems like a painful procedure, it’s actually not. Trimming damaged wings, it’s like getting a haircut.
Next, with much care as possible, she applied a little bit of contact cement onto the pieces so she’ll glue them together to the butterfly. Once they were glued and got the form as it needs to, she used talcum powder so it will remove the unwanted stickiness.
With that, the butterfly was good as new.
Following a day later, it was time to let go the butterfly and see if she can fly with the new wing.
“I was nervous for him, but encouraged him as one would their child learning to ride a bicycle,” Romy said. “I was amazed and relieved to see him make his first lap around the yard.”
Romy also shared:
“When he landed I thought I’d have to take him back in,” Romy said. “But just as I was about to reach for him, off he went and kept going. I felt really happy. And happy doesn’t adequately describe it. I have no other words. I soared with him for sure. With each one I release, I tell them I love them and wish them luck on their journey. To watch such a thing grow and transform in front of your eyes is pretty incredible.”