Tribute to Mr. Big Bug

We had some friends over for dinner the other night. The kids found a huge leaf bug. They totally loved watching it's every move. How it used it's creepy little legs to climb up the pole, they just couldn't get enough of this bug! 

Say hello to Mr. Big Bug, as Crew calls him!

They were so fascinated by Mr. Big Bug, pointing out the silly tricks he was doing.

A few days later, I went outside and Mr. Big Bug was just laying on our porch with gross bug juice coming out of him. I don't know if he got attacked by something or what. He was moving very little and I told Broc to just kill it to put him out of his misery. Mr. Big Bug looked so sad just laying there so helpless! Broc wasn't keen on the idea, but swept him off of the porch and got ready to throw a big rock on him. Broc took the rock and set it (with some force) on Mr. Big Bug. Crew happened to be out there for all of this. He started yelling, "No Dad, DON'T DO IT!" Broc and I should have thought this one through a little better. Because just after Broc had helped Mr. Big Bug go to a better place, Crew lost it! Not just cried, but was screaming, yelling and throwing his hands around. Can you blame him? He just witnessed his parents kill his sweet little insect friend! This boy loves all things living. And it completely broke my heart to watch how sad he was watching us kill something that he considered his friend. To put it into perspective, he treats his stuffed animals as if they are people. If you happen to sit on one by accident, he looses it and exclaims, "you are hurting him/ her". (And yes each one of his stuffed animals has a gender!)

I felt awful. I thought of all the ways I could have prepared him better for this, or better yet, have him inside so he didn't have to see this. We took Crew inside, tried to calm him down and talked to him about the hard facts of a bugs life. He calmed down a little, but was still pretty upset at Broc for "being so mean" to Mr. Big Bug.

The rock that helped end Mr. Big Bug's suffering.

We had a little tribute for Mr. Big Bug. We stood around him and shared our favorite memories of him! Crew's favorite memory was when he climbed up the pole. "I loved him so much!"

Then we laid him to rest. Crew chose the place, a little field across from our house. I offered the suggestion to put a rock as the grave marker, but Crew insisted that Mr. Big Bug would not like that, "he hates rocks!" Then he exclaimed, "He is happy now... he is with his Mommy!"

~RIP Mr. Big Bug~