Skoodge

Dear Michael,

My nephew Alan has been watching Invader Zim lately. It brought back a lot of fun memories and laughs. I miss hearing you talk like Zim after we had watched way too many episodes. But one memory it brought back that I really wanted to record here was about Invader Skoodge.

We were really into Zim when we first got married, and during that first year in our apartment we weren't aloud to have pets. But I randomly caught a green praying mantis and we decided there would be no harm in keeping her. We caught her in our truck Smokey in the summer before we got married. It was kindof a funny story.

We went out to Beaver Dick Park to go to a party being put on by the recruiters for a security selling company. It was dark out by the time we got there, but we had fun listening to the live band, drinking free pop, and just wandering the park. I am pretty sure we took your roommate Jordan with us. I remember you laughing when we had to hike clear back in the park to find me a porta potty because I drank too much. You kept telling me how great it was to be a guy because you didn't have to worry about stuff like that. Anyways, after we found one we decided it was time to head back to your apartment because it was getting late and we didn't really know anyone at the party. We all piled into Smokey and started down the highway going a good 50 mph when something flew in the open window and landed in my hair. I screamed (You would have been startled too!) and reached up only to be pinched by a vivacious praying mantis.  She was very pretty and we decided I should hold onto her until we got to your apartment so we could keep her as a pet. I did, although she kept pinching me, and we got her there safe and sound. We named her Skoodge. We caught her flies and grasshoppers and eventually it got so snowy outside that we had to buy her crickets from the pet store. I remember hunting for flies whenever I was walking up the stairs to your apartment and how everyone in the apartment would leave the windows open to try to entice in her next victim. We would all converge on any fly silly enough to enter apartment number 6.

duh

Duh

DUH!!! Beware flies... you have met your DOOM!!!

You loved to watch her bob back and forth as she got her prey in her sights (usually while clinging upside down to the top of her cage). Then BAM! She would nail them and start munching. You always made me laugh by imitating her and saying it looked like she was eating a couple of hot dogs.

I always loved the way her eyes seemed to follow us when she looked at us. It was so cool!

We caught a male at one point and tried to breed them, but that didn't work out. She didn't kill him because you took pity on him and saved him, but the eggs never hatched. 

Eventually, in deep winter, Skoodge got to be too old. She couldn't catch her food anymore and really started to fall apart. We decided the time had come to say goodbye to our first pet. We took her outside and put her in the tree behind our apartment on a branch. It was a very cold day and I knew she wouldn't take long to go to sleep... but I remember sobbing after we went inside. You held me in your arms and just let me cry and told me it would all be ok. It was so hard to let go of our first pet, even though it was only an insect. Maybe that is just because I am a wierdo that loves bugs, but she really had the sweetest personality... when she wasn't pinching you too hard that is. We used to let her crawl all over us, on our faces even. lol Just another reason you thought that I was a really cool girl. You also used to put her on the asian wall hanging in our living room and just let her chill out there. She really did become just another part of our little family.

Anyways, I had totally forgotten about Skoodge until the other day. It is interesting to remember what was once a great heartbreak but is now just a distant sadness. I wonder now if you have been able to say hi to her. Maybe give her a big treat for me and tell her what an awesome first pet she really was. :)

Love,
Jenny