Sadly, our Siamese fighting fish died while we were on vacation last week. Our friend and house sitter did everything she could to try to nurse him back to health but, alas, poor Goldie was on his last fins.
Trying to explain death to a 4-year old is not an easy thing. He really doesn't get that Goldie isn't coming back. I'm hearing a lot of, "Mom, when Goldie comes back can we get him a present?" and "Mom, what's Goldie going to do now that he went down the toilet?" I've been trying to explain as best as I can, but it's really tough!
To help with the fish grieving process our friend gave the little guy a book called "The Tenth Good Thing About Barney," a story about the loss of a family cat. I started bawling on the first page. It made me remember the day we had to put down my beloved dog, Fred. Although sad, the book provided me with some good ideas about how to talk about death.
So, without further adieu, here are the 10 good things about Goldie. May he rest in peace.
1. Goldie was a beautiful, dark shade of red
2. When we would walk in the door he would always swim over to greet us at the edge of his bowl
3. Goldie could blow bubbles like nobody's business!
4. He could do tricks -- like puffing out his cheeks when you flashed a mirror at him
5. Goldie was as quiet as a mouse
6. It was always fun to watch him swim inside his cave and do laps around his plant
7. At exactly the same time every day, Goldie would stare at us to remind us it was dinner time
8. He never once tried to jump out of his bowl (unlike other fish I've owned in the past)
9. Goldie seemed to genuinely like us and always seemed happy when we were in the room
10. The tenth good thing about Goldie is that, now that he's been flushed down the toilet, he'll go back into the environment (just like Barney in the book) and help the flowers to grow.
We've promised the little guy a new fish, which is definitely helping with the grieving process!
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