"Stop playing dead, Brenda-Hannah!"

I don't know what possessed me to suggest Little d get a fish last fall. I mean we used to own a 150 gallon saltwater aquarium, I know how much work they are. But I thought a trip to Petsmart would be a fun outing for her. She had been such a great big sister and I thought it would be fun for us to do this without Little m. Some time just for Little d.

So she went up and down the fish aisle. And chose...a goldfish. So funny to me. I mean she could have chosen the little fish with the Mickey Mouse head on it's tail. Or the bright neon tetras, or even the cool little miniature shark-looking fish. Nope, a goldfish. Which she named in the truck Brenda. I have NO idea where that name came from. We don't know a Brenda. I can only think maybe she heard the name from Brenda Song, an actress on The Suite Life. Oh well.

So we get home and set up the tank and get little Brenda acclimated. Except now, Little d has decided her name is Brenda-Hannah. (You know of course the Hannah is from Hannah Montana.) The girl (idiot) at the pet store flippantly said Brenda-Hannah might be pregnant. I was telling my mom about this and Little d pops up and says "She can't be pregnant, she's not married." Huh. What to do, what to do. We can't have immoral fish in our house so obviously we went out and bought another fish. Little d named Brenda-Hannah's husband Jake. (After Jake Ryan in Hannah Montana--try to keep up people!)

Well we coast along with our fish for a few months and (here's a shock) the girl was wrong. Brenda-Hannah was not 'with child', or 'with fish eggs' whatever it would be. So we went to my parents over Christmas and when we got back Brenda-Hannah was kinda acting weird. Like floating belly up. But then she would swim around and be fine. So we changed the fish food and it looked like she was getting better. Not like a spry newly hatched fish, but at least not floating belly up as much. You know, maybe it was gas. Hey we have our share of intestinal woes in this household, a gassy fish would not be a stretch.

Then the other day we get back from our Easter vacation and, miss Brenda-Hannah, not doing so well. And most of yesterday she was laying upsidedown on the gravel. She was still moving, but not much. Little d talked to her fish off and on all day. "I missed you fish while I was gone." And then occassionally, "Stop playing dead, Brenda-Hannah."

This morning my friends, I am sad to say, Brenda-Hannah stopped playing dead to actually be dead. Little D took it well. We flushed the fish down the toilet and Little d said, "Oh man, now I have to get another fish for Jake." Even Little m watched us flush and waved bye. I've never actually flushed a fish myself before. It's a little tramatic. I'm just saying.

I am so proud of Little d though. Such a trooper. I hope she goes through life taking everything in stride. Although judging some of her temper tantrums, I'm not holding my breath...

ETA: Reading back over this it appears that our vacations must have been really hard on her.