Wednesday, April 27, 2011

A Death in the Family

Let me back up ...

When D grew up, his parents never let him have a pet.  This is something I don't agree with and wanted to change as soon as possible.  I grew up with a dog and loved the experience.  Unfortunately, we currently live in an apartment building that doesn't allow pets, so my dream/desire/need/wish for a dog will have to wait.  But I was still determined to give D a pet.

So we got fish.  Serpae tetras to be exact.  At first we had three.  They all had a line and I named them Edgar, Allen and Poe.  Then we go another line-less serpae tetra who we named Eduardo.  We then got one that looked like a punk rocker so D named him Ramone (I am not as concerned with my fish's safety so I am using their full names).  Lastly we got Louie.  Ramone was the only one D named.

A few months ago, Edgar died.  We were sad, but he was the biggest of the 6 and a bully so we secretly thought it best for him to pass away.  Then either Allen or Poe (hard to tell w/o the others to compare in size!) died.  That left us with four.

For the past few weeks, Ramone has not been looking so good.  Like really not good.  Like there have been multiple times that D thought he was dead.

Today I got a phone call at work.  D was near tears...Ramone was almost dead. We were worried that the other fish would eat him so D moved him to another container.  Since he was so upset, I said we could bury Ramone in one of the hosta plants as fertilizer and to wait until I got home.

I was so sad for D.  Personally, I'm not happy about losing a fish but I'm not going to really mourn its loss (is that bad??).  But D was crushed so I wanted to be supportive.

So when he called back a few hours later I thought for sure Ramone had died.  Instead the conversation goes something like this:

D: {static} "... at the liquor store and P (the guy who recommends beer to D) mentioned this beer he has..."
S: "Wait, is this phone call about beer or fish?"
D: "Beer."
S: "Then I don't have time to talk."

8 comments:

  1. See, once you've had a "real" pet like a dog or something, the deaths of the lesser pets just seem inevitable. So I never really got sentimental about our parade of pets growing up. We had salamanders, hamster, gerbils, you name it. It was the bunny and the dogs that always got me.

    But please tell the hubs I'm sorry for his loss.

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  2. LOOL @ phone conversation!! :D :D you and your husband are toooo cute. i for one, outgrew the notion of fish being "real" pets to me when i was in my teen years. i realised they were actually pretty frustrating to have as pets coz you could never actually touch or cuddle them. all they're good for is being pretty to look at. :((

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  3. Your conversation is something exactly like what my husband and I have!! I'm like you, I didn't mourn the loss of our fish either. I never really considered them "real pets." A dog, bunny, guinea pig? Yes. But not fish.

    But please tell your hubby I'm sorry for his loss. What kind of beer did he end up getting? ;)

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  4. Thanks for you comment during comment hour last week! It is good to have a pet to teach about death and the entire process, plus pets are just fun to have! Funny phone conversation:)

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  5. Oh no!!! Poor D!!!

    Todd & I got fish when we were engaged and we kept them at his apartment. Yeah, I think they died in about 4 weeks.

    After we were married I started dog shopping without Todd knowing & just picked one & made him go to the breeders to just to make sure they got along. Giorgio was soooo small (less than 1 pound) that he was terrified of Todd.

    But now? He picks Todd over me at night to sleep! Traitor!!!

    Giorgio is the best thing we ever bought!

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  6. D appreciates your condolences lol

    @Kim: Monk's Blood

    @Kate: The moment we live in a house (or an apartment allowing dogs) I'm getting one!

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  7. Hahahaha! Funny. But very sorry for your loss. <3




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  8. I love those phone conversations! LOL Sorry about the fish. We lost 3 lizards this year to weather extremes and some kind of mite that was apparently in their tank.

    Oh and the email addy? akazookeeper@gmail.com

    Stopping by from If This Is Motherhood. Thanks for stopping by! I am a follower now!

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