Sunday, September 8, 2013

The Look Was Priceless!

The boys have been begging for a pet.  Our answer has been NO!  If they can't even take care of their Webkinz pets, how could they ever take care of a LIVE animal?!  So, no.  No pets.

Until now.

It started out as a simple trip into Big Al's Aquarium.  WRONG MOVE, MOM!!  We were just going to LOOK.  Yeah, right.  How can you just "look" in an aquarium store when there are tons of beautiful fish swimming in tank after tank after tank?!  After seeing the price tag on some of the fish that were on wish lists, the boys decided that maybe they didn't want to spend their hard earned money on a fish after all, at least not those beautiful clown fish. 

But hey!  "Mommy, look!  These goldfish are only .39 each if you buy ten or more!  It's a better deal to buy ten than to buy one for each of us!"  So, Mommy caved.  Ten gold fish (that were really orange, white, black, grey and reddish orange) came home in a plastic bag.

We put the three favorites in a bowl on the kitchen table and the other seven went into a larger bowl on display on the island.  All was well...until we got home from church tonight and found two floaties.  Uh oh.  The emotions of pet-loss were beginning to emerge.  Question after question arose about why they died, how they died, what did we do wrong, what will happen if the rest die, etc.  We've been talking fish non-stop ever since.

When the boys were getting ready for bed, I was on their bed and we were talking about fish, again, and I realized that I had made another HUGE mistake in this whole fish business.  I served fish for supper tonight!  Oops.  The look on Christopher's face when he realized that the fish we ate for supper was a REAL fish, like one that used to swim, like one that used to be alive, like one that was bigger than the goldfish down on the kitchen table in the clear fishbowl, was absolutely priceless!  Shock, horror, disbelief and repulsiveness all at the same time!

I tried so hard not to laugh at the expression on my son's face when he realized that the fish he had just eaten used to be a live, swimming fish.  It was so very hard to keep from laughing out loud, but sweet Stephen gently explained to him that the fish we had for supper was NOT a goldfish, but a bigger fish that swam in the ocean and had to be caught with nets and not even a fishing pole because it was so big (perch?!), and that Christopher didn't have to worry because it wasn't really the same thing at all, and it certainly was never anyone's pet!  Whew!  He did a great job of calming his little brother down, I have to say, but the look on his face is one I will remember for a long time.  The shock that he had just eaten a real fish!  Oh my.

So, we had ten fish.  We now have seven (another one has been discovered lying on the bottom of the bowl, unmoving).  It's anyone's guess how many we will have when we wake up in the morning.

And guess what I had already packed in their lunches for tomorrow?  Yep.  Goldfish.  Yet another MomFail.

5 comments:

heidiannie said...

Hah! I bought ten goldfish once to decorate a party we were having. They were in the vases of flowers and Jordan was mortified when I told him I was going to throw them out with the flowers! He dug out an old fishbowl we had, bought some fish food and kept them for the 2 weeks or so that they lasted. Goldfish aren't long lived in a fishbowl environment. (And even less so in a flower vase environment. But they were really pretty for the party!)

Anonymous said...

I found out the hard way that if you want to keep goldfish you need to have a water filter and bubbler in your tank. Betas are really good to just keep in a bowl, but they need to be alone. Sorry.... :(
Jenny R.

Bukan Saya said...

I really enjoy simply reading all of your web. Simply wanted to inform you that you have people like me who appreciate your work. Definitely a great post Cerita Dewasa : Ngentot Kimcil

Silver Tips said...

Excellent post regarding "The Look Was Priceless!"

Base Metal Tips Free Trial
Mcx Tips

NIOS Admission 12th said...

it is excellent post.

NIOS Admission 2018
NIOS on Demand Exam