The Life of Mr. Fishy

Elisa often seems lost in her own little world. Dominic has mentioned that she has the attention span of a fish. Last Christmas he had the fun idea of giving Lisy a fish. We gave her a blue beta, which she named Mr. Fishy. She loved it immediately. When she first saw the net, she asked, "Can I use that to take him out?!" She took it in stride when the anwser was no. She tried to pet him several times until we put a stop to it. Over the last 5 months she has spent a lot of time just watching him. She took her job of feeding him very seriously. At first she fed him everything: bread, chocolate chips, cereal, cat food, etc. Once she remembered that he could only eat fish food, she was diligent about it (and the bowl stayed cleaner longer. Of course I was the only one to clean out the bowl.) Sometimes her younger sisters still tried to feed Mr. Fishy something taboo.

Last week I discovered Mr. Fishy floating at the top of his bowl. Lisy was very sad. We gathered in the bathroom to flush him down the toilet. When Dominic came home, we held a memorial service in the garden. The kids made a small ring of stones and placed little bouquets of garden flowers. We said a prayer. Then the children, starting with Lisy, all told their favorite stories about Mr. Fishy. Who new a fish could generate so many happy memories?

Yesterday we took her to the pet store to get a new fish. She liked the betas just fine, but she loved the goldfish. "It's a fish that's shiny like gold!" $4 for a beta or 4/$1 for a goldfish? That's a no-brainer. Now Lisy has a goldfish, Mr. Fishy II.

Mr. Fishy II likes to hide behind the statue.