Goodbye Old Friend

Some people treat their pets as if they are family members.  Nothing odd about that. For as long as we have had a child that could speak, our animals have had first names and our last name.  (That’s not odd, what’s odd is all the inanimate objects that also have our last name…)

We have had one of those twenty-something cent goldfish that came from Wal-mart for longer than we have had our youngest daughter who is now 6.  This goldfish grew quite large and didn’t care for tank mates.  He had moved with us twice and even though he didn’t bark or meow, he was part of the family.  Our kids made him pictures on holidays and put them so he could see them and he would always be so excited when we got close to the tank. 

This evening when we returned home from our second home at the softball field, we discovered that our Goldfish was sleeping with the fishes, or would have been except he lived alone in his tank. 

I can’t help but feel a little sad.  Our goldfish was such a normal part of our routine that I will admit I’m gonna miss him. We plan to have a proper burial in the backyard.  So if someone tries to tell you that they don’t get attached to pets, then they obviously don’t know what a pet is.  Rest in Peace old friend.