Ninja Mom: Requiem for Pedro the fish.

Yesterday we bid goodbye to Pedro, our Betta fish. He was a good
fish insofar as he stayed in his bowl and was quieter than any other living
thing in this house, including a particularly raucous house plant. It was my
favorite thing about him. And now he?s permanently quiet.

As we often find when faced with death, I had to ask myself some difficult questions. Had he been dead the night before and I'd been too absorbed in my own concerns to notice his passing? Was there something I could have done differently to prolong his life past seven months??Can I use the pasta spoon to scoop him out of the tank? ?

I told the kids right away, because I?m forthcoming with them when it comes to difficult subjects as long as those subjects?aren't?sex. Bee cried for a moment, tears of a child facing the reality that we all die. Hers was the sadness that comes when realizing we all have an undisclosed measure of life to live. Tears of an over-reactor, too, as moments later she was giggling about the toilet vs. garbage burial plans. But then, maybe I?m being too harsh. Maybe they were the giggles of an injured heart trying to cope. I?didn't?cry, a fact of which I'm quite proud. Motherhood and a shaky emotional platform has made me into the kind of woman who cries over Hallmark commercials, particularly delicious food, and unscheduled opportunities to nap. I figured I could go either way on the fish. But I was stoic. I can only hope for the same the next time I forget to buy coffee. The children speculated on Pedro?s death. Did the saying goodbye to his visitors over Thanksgiving, our neighbor?s fish Peaches and Rosie, send him into a depression from which he could not recover? I doubt it as the only logical end to that scenario would be death by suicide and he?didn't?leave a note. Maybe he had one of the dreaded rots. I don?t know much about fish diseases, but?I've?heard about different kinds of conditions that revolve around rotting to death. What have fish done to piss off God that they are capable of rotting while still alive and how does this make the ingestion of sushi safe? What if your sashimi was already rotting when it was alive and swimming? We settled on old age, a safe bet. It?s a miracle that he survived the car ride home from the pet store back in April. Funeral plans were decided upon. I pooh-poohed burial because that?s a bit labor intensive and I had visions of our dogs digging a hole to discover the source of the rank odor caused by Pedro?s decay the same way?they've?dug holes around the roots of most of our bushes looking for elusive moles. Someone suggested the garbage disposal and yes I?ll be keeping an eye on that kid. We won?t be raising the next Dexter Morgan here. It came down to flush or toss? We agreed to flush and say a few words toilet-side. There?wasn't?time for an obit in the local newspaper, but I think Pedro would have wanted the final celebration of his life to pass without fanfare. Kind, sensible things were said about Pedro. Mostly by me because children can be counted on to say only ridiculous things at fish funerals. Someone hoped Pedro would get better back home in the ocean. You know, the magic reanimating ocean he never came from. Another child thanked God for our time with Pedro and attributed qualities to him that he never demonstrated. Among them were greatness and a sense of humor. I thanked God for giving us our short time with Pedro, and because I grew up Catholic and am no stranger to covering my rear, prayed that I had been a good steward of my scaly friend, so please don?t punish me in my afterlife, Lord. There was a brief scramble for the toilet handle that lead to a tie, thank heavens, and I was able to convince the child who?d been promised the mortuary duty of disposing of the dead that she and her sister flushed together. You can?t redo a fish flushing the same way you can promise a child that she can be the next to try a new toy or get her face painted. Life has continued since Pedro?s passing. We are getting a new fish the next time we?re at the pet store. Surely that?s not a surprise. In the hierarchy of replaceable pets, fish are at the top, followed by hermit crabs, mice, hamsters, birds, bunnies, cats, dogs, and babysitters.?We've?moved through the shock and grief of dealing with the circle of life first hand and have already decided that the greatest tragedy was not losing Pedro, but that we?didn't?buy four fish in the first place because next time around everyone gets to pick a name. If there was a teachable moment in all of this, something I could shine up and present to my kids as wisdom and prove myself a parent worthy of rearing them, it was this: We can?t flush the dogs when they go.

I'm considering opening a pet funeral home. Click the banner below to hear about our "Beloved Companion" package.?

Source: http://www.ninjamomblog.com/2012/11/requiem-for-pedro-fish.html

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