Ode to a fish

Dearest Marigold-

It seems like yesterday we brought you home from the pet store. Oh how your slimy fins danced around your bowl.....the feedings, the multiple stinky water changes, the trips to Walmart to find a filter system that would allow me to clean you less often.  Then there was that time....the dreaded accident.... during a bowl cleanse, you leaped out of your cup for freedom, only to discover you couldn't breathe.  I discovered you near death and thought for just a second that this could finally be it. I could be done...but alas, my guilt overcame me and I quickly scooped you up and put you back. You seemed to thank me...we grew closer that day.  

My children's first pet! Maili earned you from getting stickers for something. I can't recall now.

But as I lifted your lid to feed you today, you did not come swimming...you did not. As I see you floating...colorless, I realize you may have been gone for a day or more.  

A bit of relief filled my soul and then quickly........dread.....dread. How to tell Maili when she came home from school? What would she say? Would she cry?

As I braced myself to tell her....her eyes welled up but did not overflow...My eyes, however, did overflow. Trying to teach my daughters about death. Haeli asked when you would come alive again. Maili asked why? I told them you were happy now and then in the next breath she asked when we could get a puppy.

Thanks Marigold for being our first family pet. Thanks for the good times, the laughter, the tears, but most of all thanks that I don't have to clean your bowl anymore!  

Farewell