Remembering Mac

Mac died today.

Mac is short for Judah Maccabee.  He was the boys’ Hanukkah present in 2008.  A leopard gecko who ate crickets when he was young and mealworms when he could no longer catch the crickets.  He had been declining for quite a while now and it came as no surprise to find him cold and stiff this morning.

Both boys were sad, but Zach took the loss in stride.  (Remember his stoic reaction to the Lions movie?)  Ezra did not take it in stride.  Ezra lost it.  Deep, deep sorrow.  They loved Mac in different ways, but they both loved him.  When I think about it, I realize that they both love all creatures. Why?

What is it about some kids and animals?

Kids who won’t read about anything will struggle through a difficult text to learn more about dolphin communication.  Kids who have trouble making friends seem to have telepathic powers with gerbils and dogs and snakes.  Why?

We hiked the Blue Hills this weekend and made our way into the “museum” there.  I wouldn’t normally have gone in, but there was an exhibit on creepy, crawly things.  The boys held snakes and pet the cockroaches.  Ezra even held a tarantula.  They were nervous, but they pushed through it for a chance to hold something wild and risky.

They are currently obsessed with a PBS show called “Wild Kratts.”  During each episode, the Kratt brothers help to rescue an animal from villains who do not share the boys’ love all things nature.  The show has everything – good versus evil, kid humor, creature power suits, and tons of information about animals.  When I am getting ready in the morning, I often hear them shout out things like, “symbiotic relationship!”  They watch each episode over and over.  Why?

Here are some of my thoughts:

1. Kids love to learn about new and different things.  Animals are exciting and different and scary.
2. Kids love to know things that grown-ups don’t.  Zach and Ezra relish the chance to tell me that worms have no brain and more than one heart.
3. Kids, especially certain kids, love to categorize things.  Mammals, herbivores, amphibians, nocturnal animals…  There are endless ways to categorize animals and it feels so empowering!
4. Kids can observe animals and figure things out for themselves.  That’s not true with history or spelling or even math.
5. Animals, even big scary animals, are vulnerable.  They get eaten, and shot.  Their habitats are destroyed or there is no rain that year.  All kinds of bad things can happen to animals and I imagine that kids relate that vulnerability.
6. Animals have special powers and can do nifty tricks.  They are like living superheroes and I imagine that kids wish they had some of those powers.

I’m sure there are dozens of reasons.  But none of them adequately explain why the boys will sit for an hour with their noses up to the bee hive watching them go in and out.  Or why they marked Mac’s grave with a special rock so they could “always remember him.”

Whatever it is, it’s cool.