Hermit Crabs Live Forever

I have many things on my mind, but today I've noticed that the hermit crabs have been extra active which made me think back to the time when I was deceived into thinking that buying hermit crabs on the boardwalk was a good idea.

Lesson #1: If your kids beg for hermit crabs while pounding the boardwalk, say NO. They will try to take advantage of the fact that the salty air and smell of funnel cake has lulled you into complacency. Do not fall for it.

Basically, these hermit crabs are MY hermit crabs. In the weeks that followed our bringing four new shelled creatures into our home my kids were all about the crabs: feeding them, watering them, watching their every move. They soon lost their novelty which meant that I had to take over crab duty so that they would not starve to death or dry out due to lack of humidity in their crabitat. Yes, I said crabitat.

Lesson #2: If you make a "crabitat" for your crabs, they will live forever. Do not make a crabitat for your crabs if you don't want to get stuck with them indefinitely. These things are indestructible.

Actually, a week after we returned home two of the crabs keeled over and died. Jack blamed Ella since she had been carrying both crab cages at the beach and dropped one on the pavement after we'd only had possession of them for a few hours. They seemed fine but the impact must have done some damage. Of course the crabs that she dropped were Jack's crabs so to this day he still reminds her of how she contributed to their demise.

We ended up replacing those two unfortunate crabs, but over the past three years (yes, THREE!) two of the four have gone to the crab afterlife. This has got to be more exciting than a crab's life on Earth which consists of burying oneself under the sand for months on end without food and water. So now we are down to two crabs. These crabs are tough. I thought they'd be dead after a few months but they are still here, crawling, digging, dying of boredom.

Lesson #3: If your crab disappears for a few months, do not assume that it is dead. It isn't. These things are like cats - they have many lives.

We're going on our annual trek to Wildwood next week which is where we got the crabs to begin with. Whenever I complain about the crabs Jack is quick to remind me that my dad had been at the beach with us when we got the crabs. That was our last summer at Wildwood with my dad. Three years have passed.

I'll continue to water and feed and spray the crabs because they remind me of a very special summer. When we walk down the boardwalk next week, I'll think of the time when we all got on the swing ride at the pier and my dad was the one shrieking the loudest as we spun in the air. And when the crabs finally go, I'll remember that I don't really need them to remind me of all those happy times at the beach.

Lesson #4: Hermit crabs don't really live forever, but memories do.