Two nights ago the kids found a teeny tiny gecko in our little bathroom closet. Didn’t bother me one bit. Welcome to desert living.

Somehow 3 people in our family got the idea that this little creature would become our pet. As of this morning, the baby was still safely kept in a red plastic cup with a few scraps of what my kids thought my be good food. Um, are those onion peelings? Why, yes. I do believe they are. Um, nice.

So this morning was one of those mama-knows-best moments. I had a pep talk with the kids. Explained that the two options were: 1) we keep the gecko and it will die — because my gut tells me that it absolutely will die. I’m sure of it. We’re not in a stage of life where taking care of pets is our best skill or interest.

Option 2) we let the gecko go where he can survive and thrive and enjoy desert living the way he should. There was much resistance at first but after I explained that geckos have families too, my kids’ hearts softened. And then it was a quick, “Okay!”

Okay!? Just like that? Sweet. So off we went to the backyard where we released our little baby gecko friend.

The kids wanted to name him Jaxon. After all, whether you have a pet for 10 years or 36 hours, you still give him a name, right? So … farewell, Jaxon. Hope to see you around. Thanks in advance for eating whatever little critters around here that we’d prefer to keep out of the house.