Jake and Courtney wanted to make their daughter Hazel's parting with her dummy memorable.
Hazel had been showing signs she was ready to say goodbye to her dummy. As her third birthday was approaching, it seemed like the right time to transition.
After researching online, Jake found videos of people burying dummies in the ground as a symbolic farewell.
He was inspired and decided to organise a funeral for Hazel's dummy on May 18th, the day before her birthday.
Before the ceremony, Jake rushed downstairs to grab his notepad and pen.
"I grabbed a suit jacket, tied on a tie — haphazardly — and snagged the crocs by the door. That was it."
"It was a spontaneous five-minute thing, a let's-see-what-happens and have-fun-with-it moment. But it was truly led by Hazel. We wanted to give her the chance to do this herself and take that next step, with plenty of support at home."
During the ceremony, Jake delivered his eulogy. He even mimicked some of Hazel's dummy noises.
"Hello, everyone. We are gathered here to remember Pass 'The Pacifier' Bishop, one of the greatest pacis to have ever graced the lips of a toddler."
"From our mouths to our hearts, paci brought a sense of peace and calm to our Hazel Jean."
After the eulogy, the family buried the dummy, and closed the funeral with a salute and bagpipe music.
"I did this," Hazel saluted.
"Our restless little girl is always on the move," Jake said. "Her sitting through the pacifier funeral for as long as she did was impressive."
In the morning, Hazel found a surprise basket on top of the burial site. Inside it had lollipops, bath surprises, glow sticks, Reese's cupcakes, and a rose.
"I also got a new bike!"
"She's been doing amazingly well since then. She hasn't mentioned the pacifier, hasn't had any meltdowns. She's really embraced this transition to big girlhood. It's been incredible," Jake revealed.
A video of the funeral was shared to TikTok and went viral, reaching over 2 million views and garnering 6,000 comments.
"Every time I open the app and see all the notifications, I'm still shocked. My hand started cramping from keeping up with all the positive and loving comments. It feels really good ... we're letting kids feel emotions, be themselves."
"Even tough times like this don't have to be hard. They don't have to be painful memories. We can do them in any way we choose, and let these kids lead the way."
Comments
Post a Comment