The Fish

As some of you may know from reading this blog or that know me personally, you know I am not a pet person. For the many of you pet people out there it’s probably hard for you to understand but I come from a long line of non-pet people so I guess it’s just in my blood. Growing up we did at one point have a guinea pig but now even the thought of that makes me cringe.

My girls on the other hand somehow didn’t inherit that gene They would LOVE a pet and have been begging us for a while now. Knowing that a dog or cat or anything else with fur is out of the question, they’ve turned to fish or turtles. The begging, the pleading just keeps going on.

So, about a month ago – specifically March 4th, my little one and I were at a festival in the city for Purim. It had a bunch of carnival games and at one of the booths, the prize was a goldfish! You-know-who made a complete bee-line straight to that booth!! I couldn’t say no so I let her play. Sure enough, she wins!!

She was super excited for winning and especially excited to come home and rub it in her sister’s face! Sibling rivalry at it’s finest!

They were both excited and although I didn’t want to take that away from them, I also wanted to warn them that goldfish don’t last very long. Honestly I didn’t think it would even make it through the night! Do they ever?!?

The hubbs and I got suckered in and researched how to take care of it. We went to the store the next day to get fish food. Hmmm, pellets or flakes – so many decisions! Online it also said they need at least a 5 gallon tank. There was no way were were going out to get a huge tank for a tiny thing that wouldn’t last longer than a day! So, a bucket it was…

The girls gathered all of their sea shells and fish related stuffed animals and surrounded the bucket so the goldfish would have some friends. We kept asking my daughter if she was going to name it and finally she did. We think it’s either Meemo or Nemo Every time she says it it sounds different.

Every morning when waking up I got into the habit of checking the bucket to see if Meemo was still alive. Yep – still kicking! (uh, swimming )

That is until Wednesday. Sometime in the late afternoon after our excursion to the Botanical Gardens and Bronx Zoo, it happened. I looked over and little Meemo was floating on his side.

(Did you really think I would show you a picture of a dead goldfish?)

The girls came over to look My little one laughed. Why is it that this happens to us? Laughing at sad situations? Well, the laughing stopped as soon as she saw her D.Q. (drama queen) sister have a complete meltdown. Then the 2 of them were uncontrollably bawling!! AND somehow I didn’t even get blamed for it! Miraculous!!

My older one wanted to draw a picture to remember Meemo/Nemo. “Mom, does R.I.P mean respect ill persons?”