Moth Funeral

My class raised Manduca moths to observe the life cycle of an insect. Since they hadn't emerged from their pupa (cocoon) before school was out for the summer, I sent them home with the kids. I saved one for Will and brought it home. Well, last Tuesday it finally eclosed. The average life span of an adult is one week, which is why I agreed to bring it home in the first place. Well, this morning I came down stairs and saw our beloved moth lying at the bottom of our make shift habitat with its legs up in the air. Not thinking it was a big deal since Will hadn't even spent more than 5 min the whole week paying any attention to it, I said, "the moth is dead." Tearfully, he walked over to view the body. This lasted a few minutes and he was off doing something else.

About an hour later I was in the kitchen and Will came over and started staring at the moth. Then the sobs ensued for quite awhile. I held him while he cried and explained that it was his time to go. I asked if he would like to bury him in the yard and he agreed this was a good idea. He cried a few more minutes and then said he was ready to go bury it.

We went outside and located the gardening shovel. Will searched the yard for just the right spot, dug a shallow grave and we dumped him out of the soda bottle that served as his home. Will said a few words: "I'm sorry you died moth." and shed a few more tears.

I was able to get him involved in helping me organize the pantry and ever since he's been fine. This was his first death in the family.