In praise of leopard geckos

I've always thought I wasn't a pet person, especially regarding indoor pets.  But these geckos have a special place in my heart.  Maybe because my kids' first pets were mice, and they were so disgusting.  They were cute, until you'd spent five minutes in their stinky, incontinent presence.  It was such a relief when they were all dead.  That was their one good point: a short life span.

But even if we hadn't had the great mouse experiment, I think I'd still love the geckos.  When Claire is inconsolable and I don't know why (I don't even know if she knows why), she can hold her gecko and feel better.  And when I told Anne her gecko was probably dead and Anne sat down on the floor crying, Claire sat down next to her to mourn with her.  I don't know if I've ever seen Claire have compassion enough to try to comfort someone before.  When Anne accidentally killed her mouse, for example, Claire gave Anne an impassive and didactic lecture on what can happen if you squish something. Thank you, geckos, for helping Claire reveal some of her heart to us.

Sorry, gecko.  My awesome photography skills don't do you justice.