Life and Death

Over Labor Day weekend, Tim bought Ryan his first pet - a hermit crab that we named "Henry." Henry came home with us, and for the first couple of weeks, Ryan was really interested in feeding Henry and playing with Henry. He even brought him into school for show and tell. About 2 weeks ago, we noticed Henry was not moving anymore and realized his short life had come to an end. Instead of discussing it with Ryan, we disposed of Henry, hoping Ryan wouldn't notice his absence. And surprisingly, he didn't. Until today. We were driving in the car to school this morning, happily listening to music together, and out of the blue, Ryan said "Mommy, where is my hermit crab?" I almost choked on my coffee, tried to ignore the question and then asked him to repeat it. He said "But where IS my hermit crab?" I told him I didn't know, and he proceeded to say "Well, maybe when we get home from school today, before we watch TV, we can feed him. Because he is hungry!" I wasn't really sure how to respond, so I let the question sit for a minute and then began explaining to Ryan that Henry came from the beach and sometimes crabs have to go back to the beach to live, because they like it there with the water and sand. Ryan started to get a little upset and said "No! Because his name is HENRY and I don't want him to go!" I told him we can discuss it later, he said "ok" and our happy ride to school continued....But I have a feeling this isn't the last I will hear about Henry....