A Fish Remembered

Isaiah experienced another of life's difficulties.

He needed to say goodbye to one of his fish, Cutie. He took it very well. I'm proud of him really.

Following is the story of Cutie:

Last weekend Matthew, my mom, my sister and I took the kids to the carnival at Hudson's Booster Days. At the carnival was the Toss a Ping Pong Win a Goldfish booth. Matthew showed Isaiah a surefire way to never get the little ball in the miniature fishbowl. We were doing good with only three balls left in Isaiah's turn when Auntie Sally stepped in and showed Isaiah a sure fire way to get a ball in the bowl. (thank you Auntie Sally....)

Sure enough with his last three balls Isaiah ended up getting two of those ping pongs into a fish bowl. You know what that means...yep....we brought home two goldfish.

(note: we had no fish housing, food, fake aquatic plants or aerators, while you do win a fish you do not win any accessories for said fish)

In an effort to ease the fish into their new life in the lap of luxury (they had previously been living in a Ziplock) Auntie Sally and I ran to Walmart and purchased the new fish set up.

We drove the fish and their gear back to our house later in the day and set them up. They both seemed to be doing fine and enjoying their new digs.

To prepare Isaiah for the inevitable Matthew talked with him about the timeline of a fish's life. Basically, Matthew said you're doing good if your fish stick around for two days.

After the conversation regarding the life and death of goldfish Isaiah pondered the time specified by Matthew. Isaiah then asked if today (Friday) counted as the first day. You see Isaiah was trying to figure out if the fish were going to be dead on Saturday or Sunday. We assured him "Day 1" would be Saturday. Friday was just going to be a bonus day since that's the day the fish were won.'

Are you following this?

Anyhow, both fish (Cutie and Fred) have been doing splendidly all week.

Until this morning.

Cutie was looking a tad green around the gills, literally.

Well, at 1:15pm today (Wednesday) Cutie passed away.

With a few tears in Isaiah's eyes he went out and dug a little hole for his fish friend.

I told him to come back to the house when he was ready and I would bring out Cutie and attend the services he had planned.

Isaiah came in and said he was ready. He grabbed a baseball cap (he NEVER wears caps, not even while playing baseball) and we went to the little hole in the hill Isaiah had prepared for Cutie.

I had the honor of placing the fish in his final resting spot. Isaiah assured me he was going to cover him up, by hand thankyouverymuch.

I assumed we were done and was greatly taken aback when Isaiah said, "We'll say some words now."

"Of course."

At this point Isaiah whipped off his hat (which happened to be his Hudson Booster hat, very appropriate) and placed it over his heart. I was unsure what to do so I improvised and just put my hand on my heart.

Isaiah said, "We are gathered here today to say goodbye to Cutie. He is the fish what I won at the carnival. He was a good fish and I'm glad I won him. Lord I ask that he have a nice journey to your place. Amen."

I think I said Amen as well although I'm unsure as I was really trying to keep a straight face. It is widely known that grief can sometimes cause inappropriate behaviour like laughing at a funeral. I don't think Isaiah would have understood so I did my best.

At this point Isaiah replaced his hat back on his head. I told him it was a nice service and that I enjoyed having Cutie as part of our family.

(note: I had previously told Isaiah to wear some nice clothes today since it's Matthew's birthday and we were going to celebrate at my parent's house later in the day)

I thought I'd tell Isaiah I thought he looked nice.

Knowing I thought he was dressed up for Matthew's birthday Isaiah said, "I wore this for the funeral."

"Of course. You still look nice."

I offered a time to play a video game in hopes of cheering him up. It did. He's playing his new Indiana Jones Lego game. I think we'll get through this.

Goodbye Cutie, it's been a swell 5 days.