Annabel’s fish, Bubbles, died last Monday.
As you may recall, Annie won Bubbles at her school carnival back in October of 2015. YEP THAT FISH LIVED OVER TWO YEARS. I was not pleased that she won the fish, but Mike was stoked. Homeboy couldn’t wait to go buy a fish tank…and a fish for James, too. “For James.” He’s even upgraded the friggin’ tank.
I do not enjoy fish, in case that wasn’t obvious.
However, I was very sad for the kids. Mike discovered Bubbles at the bottom of the tank, and immediately went to inform me.
Mike: Heather, wake up.
Me: No. It’s early.
Mike: One of the fish died.
Me: I’M UP.
We told Annabel together, and she was very upset. We gave her lots of hugs, wiped away her tears, and answered her questions. When she asked what we’d do with Bubbles, Mike said, “Well, we’ll give her a nice funeral where we talk about how much we loved her, and then we’ll send her out to sea.”
Annabel: How do we send her out to sea?
Mike: Well, we flush her down the toilet.
James: WHAAAAAT NOOOOOO!!!!!!
The death of the fish had, at this point, not bothered James. Flushing a dead fish down a toilet was, apparently, his line.
Since he was so upset, James and I did not participate in the funeral. But I’m sure it was lovely. Pretty sure I heard a few notes of Amazing Grace come from the bathroom.
Meanwhile, James’ fish, Uptown Funk, was still alive…although he did look a little, oh, crazed. He kept swimming in a loop from the top of the tank to the bottom. I wondered to Mike if he was long for this world.
Mike: He’s lonely, obviously.
Me: DO NOT DO IT.
On Saturday, I had to be at the softball fields all day to help run player evaluations. Mike had a pretty long to-do list with the kids, and I figured we’d all get home around the same time. Then I got a text from him.
Friggin’ Mike.
The kids are very happy, though. That’s what I keep telling myself at least.
Friggin’ Goldy.
Toni says:
Oh my gosh, this made me smile – not about losing Bubbles but everything else!
Annalisa says:
Ha.
I suspect you feel…uh…conflicted now, but you’ll look back at this fondly someday, when they’ll be “eh, it’s just a fish.”
RzDrms says:
You’re up against the impossible: Mike’s beautiful children, looking up to him with doe eyes asking for a new fish; Mike redeeming his own childhood fish; ALL THE COOL ACCESSORIES. :-0
Alida says:
… as I sit here looking at my goldfish that has been happily exploring her tank for I think 5 years now? 5 1/2? We lived in a place with an outdoor pond, so we got, like, 10 fish and put them in the pond. Most died. One did not. When winter came, it upgraded from a pond to a tank and never went back out into the pond again. And is still swimming, five (I think. But it might be four) years later.
Sara Mc says:
I’m not laughing that your daughter’s fish died, but I seriously laughed out loud at this post. Especially the line about Amazing Grace coming from the bathroom. Hahaha! I imagine my mom would have reacted the same way – I was the kid at the state fair every year trying to win a fish.
Becca says:
hahaha – omg I love this ongoing storyline. So hilarious. To Goldy 2.0!
Lauren says:
My sister got her fish at the carnival when she was 8 or so and Sharky lived until my sister was in med school. MED SCHOOL. Sharky flew across the country twice and was the only inhabitant of the 15 gallon tank in the living room. May Uptown Funk and Goldy have long, prosperous lives.
Cheryl says:
We had to bury our first fish when it died, my son did not let us flush it. The 2nd one though…we told him we buried it and I think my husband flushed it
GreenInOC says:
One of my nephlings won 2 fish at their school carnival that lived almost 8 years. That’s NOT a typo. The interesting thing was, we were all convinced that they professionally trained circus acrobatic fish!
After upgrading a parade of fish to tanks, the fish dying, giving away everything, another kid, another fish, another upgrade and repeat, repeat, repeat, these fish were just put in your typical fish bowl in the kitchen by the sink.
The two of them would, in sync, race, turn, flip, dive and jump! They would greet you in the morning. They seemed to LOVE to jump. When my sister would do dishes, the started trying to jump into the sink! They must have also been part cat because more that once when they jumped into the sink they landed in the empty side with the disposal or jump out and land on the counter some time during the night when nobody was around – gah!
They ended up putting out several bowls so the fish could jump from bowl to bowl. When they would jump solo they would look at each other from different bowls until one of them jumped to join the other. They also reacted to each person uniquely and differently. For example, when the person who fed them in the kitchen, they would jump in tandem vertically. Seriously, these fish were nuts!!
When they died, days apart, our entire family all across the country were very sad!
Susie says:
Fred and Ethel have lived for 8 years. Yes, 8 years of changing water and filters and food. But we love them. They are happy beggars everytime we come into the kitchen. And after 8 years, I am no longer in charge of them. Kids are old enough to do it themselves. Who knew they would live this long!