Mantis Scramps

It’s hard to remember Bryan as he truly was, not as he was that last week. So here is a tiny happy memory for those of you having trouble….

I first heard about mantis shrimp during Bryan’s last visit to NY. Cliff Notes version: MK and Jeff drove Bryan down to spend a weekend with me because I was in the final stages of training for the PMC and couldn’t leave the city on my days off.

They dropped Bryan off for the evening, we watched some Netflix, we sat on the couch that I’m on now, we laughed, he taught me about mantis shrimp, and we ordered delivery. It was perfect and as close to normal as we had been in months.

We then spent the night in the ER. Like you do.

It was a pretty horrible experience, but it was okay because we were together. We all drove back to Boston the next afternoon and got to spend an extra day together. Silver linings.

For those of you who don’t know: The mantis shrimp is the strongest animal in the world (in relation to it’s size). Bryan and I call them Mantis Scramps because “scramp” is super fun to say.

Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Mantis Scramps are multi-colored and gorgeous. They have 16 cones in their eyes which means they can see more colors than we can even dream of. (To put that in to perspective: humans only have 3 cones.) They also have these spring loaded arms. When their arms release they punch so hard that they can break aquarium glass. If they hit your finger they’ll split it open down to the bone. I repeat: TO. THE. BONE. Their punch accelerates at the same velocity as a 22-caliber pistol. I think it’s a fair assessment that these scramps are pretty badass. I could talk about them for hours, so I just need you to commit to looking them up and getting pumped about them. Promise? Good talk.

Obviously we (quickly) became passionate about these scramps. So naturally, while we were in the ER that night we taught MK and Jeff all about them. They became a sort of happy joke.

A few days later was the PMC and Bryan was in the hospital again. He’d been having severe pain and needed a lot of morphine. We were all terrified that he wouldn’t be able to leave the hospital that weekend, but as always we hoped for the best and kept it moving. I took a train up to MA, Jeff picked me up from the train station, we experienced a weird ¼ block rain storm (a story for another time), and made our way up to a cozy hospital room.

Jeremy and Kelsey were in town for the PMC… so the conversation (quickly) turned to Mantis Scramps.  Like it does. Immediately we pulled up videos and photos of them. So my last truly happy hospital memory is this: Bryan, Kelsey, Jeremy, and I curled up in two pushed together hospital beds huddled around a computer screen watching Mantis Scramps punch in slow motion and attack crabs. Imagine that set to an epic soundtrack + “It’s only a flesh wound” jokes while crab arms fall off.  It was so silly and normal and fun.

I vividly remember thinking to myself, “Remember this. This is the best. You are so lucky.”

So I did. And it was. And I am.

In a lot of ways that weekend is something that I won’t talk about. It was the last good weekend. It was the last time I saw Bryan out of the hospital.  It was such an amazingly magical weekend and experience. It feels like everything fell in to place to make it happen. And more than anything I wish that it had lasted longer.

It was little but powerful.

Like a scramp.

<3

During the pre-PMC hospital stay Bryan and I spent an extended amount of time practicing how to smile while only showing your upper gum line. #Romance

This is a Mantis Scramp (kinda?) I drew on a card for MK <3