Good Friday Tattoo

No, neither I or anyone in my family got a tattoo on Good Friday. But I do have a funny story, well, funny from my perspective. Also, cute and kind of sad. . .

This year, our Good Friday meal consisted of crawfish. I wish I had taken a picture of the feast. Very, ummmm. . . Louisiana! :) SO DELICIOUS! Just classic Louisiana. A bunch of grown adults, in my brother-in-law's sister's garage (with me so far?). :) We were all standing around a long table with garbage bags taped to all sides. The crawfish/corn/potatoes & mushrooms were then just dumped onto the long table and using our bare hands (well, my sister "cheated" and wore gloves) we twisted off the heads and proceeded to eat the meat inside (no, I did not suck any spices out--I only lived there for 3 years, i'm far from a real "louisianian." I seriously wish I had taken a picture, but then again, my hands were covered in spices. :) Anyway, this is not the funny part.

A couple hours earlier, David (my sister's brother-in-law, whose house we were at and who was cooking the crawfish) gave Caelleb a live crawfish. Well, Caelleb would NOT touch the critter so they stuck the crawfish in some water in a McCallister's cup. This became Caelleb's "pet" crawfish, which he (all by himself) named "Tattoo." Caelleb was so proud of Tattoo. Apparently it was an instant bond. He carried that cup around the backyard while he played. It was comical. At one point I told him I would hold Tattoo for him. We had all been joking around with him about cooking & eating Tattoo so before he let me hold him Caelleb said, "I'll be watching you." LOL :) He carried that cup around all afternoon. When we left he wanted to take it back to Lori and Scott's house. Uncle Scott was gracious enough to put Tattoo in his cup holder in his truck on the way home. But once we got back to their home a new house rule emerged: no live crawfish in the house! So Tattoo and his cup were placed on the backyard porch (where Caelleb checked on him many times that day). I'm sure you can all guess what happened next. Tattoo didn't make it past good Friday, which turned out to be not so good for him, afterall. Caelleb was heartbroken. I told him we could get him a goldfish or something when we got back home and he said, "I just want Tattoo."

We explained to him how crawfish are meant to be in the mud, not a McCallister's cup and how the memory of Tattoo would live on in Caelleb's heart (mind you, we were explaining this while trying desperately not to giggle). By Easter Sunday Caelleb had bounced back just fine. We never did bury Tattoo, although Caelleb had wanted to. I'm sure Aunt Lori & Uncle Scott will figure out the proper way to discard him. Since our dog Bailey is really Bryndyn's dog, this was Caelleb's first real "pet." Only in Louisiana would a child's first pet be a crawfish. So, Caelleb got his first lesson on the circle of life.

Tattoo

4/?/07 -- 4/8/07

May he rest in peace. :)