The Story of Jimmy

On Memorial Day we took the kids to the local parade where we joined some friends and their kids. While waiting for the parade to start, the kids were poking each other with sticks and running around - at least until they discovered the gypsy moth caterpillars. Nina adopted one and named it Jimmy. For her, it was better than the candy being tossed out at the parade.

On the walk home, Nina kept up a running commentary, "Look, Jimmy, there's the library. Hey, Jimmy, we're on the bridge." She was smitten. When we got home, I made Jimmy a house out of a plastic takeout container with some holes cut in the top. We lined it with a nice, fresh maple leaf.

Nina spent the afternoon helping me in the garden and of course, Jimmy was right there with us. Every so often she would take him out and pet his soft little body and coo at him. At one point, she dropped him in the grass and when she couldn't find him right away, she started to cry, "Mama, you must help me find Jimmy! Where is Jimmy!" Finally I did find him and she was so grateful.

Our neighbors were outside in their garden when we almost lost Jimmy and Nina had already gone over to show him off to them. They have a son who is ten or eleven so they understand the whole obsession with crawly things. The next thing I knew, they had presented Nina with an actual bug house for Jimmy. I really have the best neighbors.

For the next several days, Nina carried Jimmy around, showing him things, talking to him and narrating his activities, "Mama, Jimmy is eating. Shhhh, Mama, don't be so loud, Jimmy is taking a nap." She even brought him to day care for show and tell at circle time. Throughout the week, I kept explaining to her that her pet would not be able to become a moth unless he was able to go into a tree and build a cocoon. She understood this but the idea of his leaving was too painful for her to contemplate.

Finally, on Thursday night, on our way home from dinner - Jimmy came with us in the car, of course - Nina decided it was time to set him free. When we got home, it was starting to get dark and it was cold and rainy. I put on my serious face and went with Nina to the maple tree in our front yard. She slipped Jimmy out of his carrier and put him on the tree. She petted him and kissed him and told him goodbye. Just as we were giving him one last look, she decided she couldn't do it. She looked at me and said, "I'm not ready for him to go yet, Mama." Then she put him, and his chewed up maple leaves, back into the bug house and we went in to get ready for bed.

She proceeded to have a complete melt down that night. She had somehow decided that if we didn't let Jimmy go right away, he was going to die during the night. She insisted that we go back out into the dark, rainy night and set him free. But at the same time, she didn't really want to let him go. This was truly an ordeal for her. She was sobbing and saying that she didn't want him to die and we had to set him free. Being the mean mom that I am, I did not let her go back outside in her PJs to set the caterpillar free. We did all manage to calm down and get some sleep.

At about 6:30 the next morning, Nina was wide awake and ready to go set Jimmy free. She had made her mind up during the night that it was okay to let him go. After we all had breakfast and got dressed, the entire family gathered around the maple tree in our front yard to say goodbye to Jimmy. Once again, Nina stroked him and kissed him goodbye, but this time she was able to let him begin the long crawl up the tree trunk. We all waved and Paul very seriously documented the whole thing on his iPhone. And, while Nina was happy with her decision, she still mourns Jimmy a little bit every day. She even started to cry out of the blue over the weekend and when I asked her what was wrong, she told me, "Mama, I miss Jimmy!"