flush

A few weeks back I mentioned on FB that I am a serial killer - of houseplants. Seriously, I can't keep one alive more than a few weeks. But before I turned my killer instincts to plants, I kept killing our pet fish. It wasn't just me, I usually had help... the neighbor boy who dumped an entire bottle of food in the bowl, or my dear child who poured "non-toxic" cleaner into the next fish tank {she wanted to "clean" the fishies}. And never mind the beta fish which PETCO assured us were much, much heartier than goldfish {dead in 24 hours}. In 3 months we went through approximately 10 fish. Then we got "Dorothy" and "Nemo" hearty little fish from the 15 cent feeder fish section {no use throwing good money after bad}. We've had them for 2 years now... I once forgot to feed them for about a month and they still survived.

Sadly, today I found Nemo, {or was it Dorothy -only Emma can tell them apart} floating upside down at the top of the bowl. My first thought was my sensitive 4 year old. She can barely hold it together during a Barbie movie, she'll be crushed to hear one of her pets is dead. Sure it's only a fish, but she really does love them. I thought about how I was going to tell her, how I'd explain it to her... how sad her little face would be. And then I had another thought, and did something I never thought I'd do. I sent Dave to the store to buy another orange 15 cent fish. Yep, we replaced it and she hasn't noticed yet. I always thought I'd be that parent who took advantage of these moments to teach my child about real life. Usually that is what we do. We are honest with our kids, they learn their lessons. Today I realized, she's 4 and she has plenty of time to learn about real life... today, just this one time, I will save her from that heartache, because as she gets older there will be so very few times I can do that for her.

So, welcome Nemo the 2nd! I promise I'll try my very best not to kill you.