"Baby" Nostalgia...

[Guest]

When I first walked into Bill's that Friday night, I knew I needed someone for the tank with zest, personality, and energy. Someone who would make my newly active tank even more active. The moment I saw you blaze across the sand in your purple shell, I knew you were the one. I brought you into my travel tank where you met your sisters and sisters.I took you to church with me that night, beaming and proud of the newest addition to my colony. My friends oohed and ahhed and "aww"ed at the sight of the tiny blue crab in the purple shell. Not too long after the fawning started though, there was trouble in the ranks. Your biggest sister went around the circle, from crab to crab, asserting her dominance over the others. When your turn came up though, you did not hesitate to raise your back leg and knock her on her little crab @$$. That confirmed for me that I took home the right crab. You wouldn't let any crab, big or small, bully and boss you around. I admired you for it; you had a strength and courage that even this human couldn't muster under the same stress.Once home, you settled down significantly...at least for a period. When I'd come over to your new place to mist it and keep it humid, you would always poke out and say hello when the mist started to fall, sticking your feelers up into the air and catching the droplets on them like a kid catching snowflakes on her tongue. It was at this silly little moment that I realized "the Baby," as I had been calling you, needed a name. I discovered that you were my first boy crab, and set off to find the appropriate name for you.One night, I started my now (solidly) weekly ritual of watching one of my favorite internet personalities, The Nostalgia Critic. He remembers it so I don't have to, even though my brain stores the weirdest crap in memory. I was doing some catch-up, watching some reviews from 2009 that I never got around to seeing. Between his tendency to not take any crap, and the fact that he was quickly establishing himself as my favorite internet personality (like you became my favorite in the tank), I named you for him, blessing you Nostalgia, sealing your name at Esbat with a good friend standing up as your godfather.You knew how to make friends and influence people. Cheerieaux became your girlfriend, as much as that was possible, at least, and there was seldom a moment when you two were not seen together, shell snuggling in the corner by the salt pool. I figured that your adjustment to your new home went well, and judging by how your big sister scurried at the site of you, thought you had seized the alpha mantle. Sometimes when I'd hold you, you'd hold onto me with your little pincher as I tried to pick you up to put you back into your home. Did you not want to be put down? Now I only wish I could have held onto you a little longer...Not too long after you were blessed, I used my mother's Blackberry to take a picture of you. Why? I was going up to Connecticut to meet your namesake, and I wanted your namesake to know just how much I appreciated his entertainment and laughs. Through the great blizzard, I traveled with a friend to the campus of the University of Connecticut to meet your namesake, Douglas Walker, the Nostalgia Critic himself. After one ridiculous romp through the wilds of Fairfield, I managed to get a picture of you that was worthy of his keeping. In the midst of talking to your namesake, I fondly and poignantly remember this exchange:"I have something for you sir."I took out the picture of you and handed it to him. He's a bit puzzled."What the **** is THAT thing?""That is an Ecuadorian hermit crab, sir.""Oh okay.""And his name is Nostalgia. I named him after you."His brother Rob interjected at this."Is he an a*****e like Doug is?"I snickered, remembering you standing up to your big sister."He can be!"I noticed Doug's smile grow a little wider."And I AM a real crab, so I guess it fits!"I drove home from Connecticut with a smile if not on my face, then most certainly in my heart, knowing that your namesake knew of you, and was taking your image back to Chicago with him. Although my journey back to New Jersey was trying, I knew you and your sisters would be waiting for me the minute I walked in the door.As the snow melted and the weather started getting warmer, though, I noticed that your energy was starting to slip. I figured that you were finally going to molt, but nearly a hundred pre-dug holes later, and you never did it. Even as your eyes grew cloudier and whiter, you were insistent on not molting, despite every indicator that said you should have been. Even as your brother La Bamba went down to molt and came up on his own, you were stubborn to a fault just like your keeper, and did NOT want to molt.You never were the same after Cheerieaux's passing, either. I'd notice you dragging your pincher across patches of substrate, as though you were trying to find her again, only to find nothing but more dirt or old food. When I brought Linkara home, you and her hit it off, but your time with her was clearly not the same as your time with Cheerieaux. After Linkara went down to molt, you never were the same ever again for the rest of your days.Doing my rounds today, I noticed that the Lord and Lady called you home some time during the night.Did I lose you to a broken heart? Was Cheerieaux's passing and Linkara's disappearance too much for you? I won't know these things until I see you again, whenever that may be. I love you, Nostalgia, and I always will. You will always be my little crab baby, and no other crab will ever hold that title in my terrarium. Thank you for all the smiles and memories that you gave me in the time I had with you. I will never forget you.