The Bishop family of Festus, Missouri, may be smiling now, but a few months ago, the mood was much more somber when Courtney, Jake and their 3-year-old daughter Hazel said goodbye to a very important family member: Hazel’s beloved pacifier.
“It’s not good for her teeth, her jaws and all that, so we’ve been trying to wean her off it for a while,” said Jake, 35., said.
Hazel’s beloved pacifier, affectionately known as “Paci,” had been with her for years. Jake knew that saying goodbye could be accompanied by tears and tantrums, so he looked for creative approaches to ease the transition. He considered options like cutting off the end of the pacifier, soaking it in vinegar, or planting it in a pot.
Instead, Jake chose to give Paci a funeral.
Sure, before the Internet, parents would usually just remove the object and deal with the crisis. But today, for better or worse, young parents like Jake prefer not to go to war over a pacifier. They’re “fast fists,” if you will.
“They need to go through tough times to really grow as people, but you don’t need to create even tougher times for them,” Jake said. “They’ll have plenty of those coming.”
Parents love reaching milestones, but these milestones are often bittersweet, because every turning point is a point of no return.
“She’s moving on to the next stage of her life,” Jake said of Hazel, their first child. “We just have to hold on to those moments and those memories because it all goes by so quickly.”
Hazel hasn’t asked for Paci since. However, shortly after the ceremony, Jake dug her up and reburied her in a memory box, making Dad the one who just can’t let her go.
Steve Hartman
