Blue Shark

I snapped these photos of our hermit crabs a week ago. They were climbing a branch/log in their enclosure. "Blue" (aka Blue Shark) had obviously gone first, followed close behind by "Gold" (aka Gold Sparkles). True to their personalities, Blue was clinging to the top of the branch looking as if he wished he'd never tried this climbing thing, and Gold wanted him to keep moving, clearly unaware he had nowhere else to go. She would wait for a few minutes, then smack him with her claw and try to push him along.

Chuckling, I grabbed my cell phone and snapped these photos, little realizing they would be used one week later to eulogize our beloved "Blue".

He was a good friend and companion, as hermit crabs go. He was always the cautious one, perhaps because he was older and more frail. The weekend we got the crabs, they traveled with us to Bob & Bill's birthday party, but stayed behind when we went to the Cub Scouts Blue and Gold banquet the following day. Many people thought the crabs were named in honor of the banquet, but in fact they were named for the decorations on their first shells.

The lady who sold us the crabs told me they generally lived 30 days to a year. They were supposed to be "tide-him-over" pets for Harrison while we lived in our apartment, until we could get moved into our house, so I figured that life span was right up our alley. We didn't know we'd have them for over 6 years!

Late last night Harrison came into the kitchen with tears streaming down his face, holding Blue, who was uncharacteristically out of his shell, but not moving. A brief assessment made it clear that Blue had passed away. We shifted out of "getting to bed as soon as we can" mode to "holding a crab funeral and then getting to bed as soon as we can" mode.

Harrison called Grammy & Grampa with the sad news, and they came right down as we hurried to make arrangements for burial and a celebration of life.

Harrison selected a Ziploc brand snack bag for interment, and adorned it by enclosing a water-type energy Pokemon card with the remains. I found a small wooden cross from my kids' crafts bucket, and we put Blue's name on it to serve as a temporary grave marker until we could do a more proper stone marker.

Having thus prepared the body, we took our lantern and a sharp-pointed garden spade out to Yuxia's shade tree, and held a brief but moving ceremony. Everybody said a few words, Grammy first, followed by Grampa, Mom and Dad (Harrison introduced Julio as Blue's primary caregiver, who would obviously have more to say than the rest of us), then Harrison gave the final eulogy, recalling that he had recently seen Bambi when he first got the crabs. When Blue was reluctant to come out of his shell, Harrison would imitate Thumper, calling softly "It's all right", and Blue would come out - only for Harrison.

We held a brief reception, during which Harrison ate "ocean adventure" dolphin-shaped chicken nuggets, and we discussed all our friends who are waiting for us at the rainbow bridge. Finally Harrison felt comforted enough to go to bed, and the evening came to a close.

Rest in peace, Blue Shark.