Sayonara to Surfboard

A first pet is a major milestone in a kid's life.  And when that first pet happens to be a fish (or a hamster or a mouse, or any other short-lived critter, I suppose) a first pet is also likely your child's first experience with death.  I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this.  Surfboard is no longer with us.  He hadn't been eating well for months, according to Andy, and Andy pays attention to things like fish appetites much more than I ever do.  So when the 1.5 year old (at least) goldfish curled up in an open freshwater clam shell to breathe his last breath, we had to have a heartfelt talk with Aiden.  It was either that or, like I've heard some other parents tell rumors about, run to the pet store lickety-split and buy an identical fish before your kid notices the first one is gone.   Too hokey for us, and besides Aiden tends to pick fish with impossible-to-duplicate blotches and spots, so that probably wouldn't have gone over well.

Photo of Surfboard taken by Aiden in better days

A few tears were shed, but overall I think Aiden understood what happened and took Surfboard's passing pretty well.  He spent the morning drawing about 25 identical pictures of Surfboard (and Surfboards newer "friend" Johnny) in their tank, with exclamations of "I (heart) Surfboard" above them, and reminiscing about how much he loved his fish and how they were good friends.  And they were, in a way.  Though it may have been tempting for Andy and I (who have seen many a fish die in myriad tanks over the years ) to roll our eyes over all the drama for a single goldfish, we didn't, and it wouldn't have been right.  Aiden really did love that fish, probably more than any other fish he'll ever have, since he was the first pet all to his own.  We stopped by the Lebanon Pet Center on Saturday and picked up a new friend for Johnny, a black comet Aiden named Obi Wan.  Obi's settling in nicely, and Aiden is a just a bit more mature and worldly than he was a week ago.  The wheels are turning in his head as a result, though, and we'll likely have a barrage of questions to answer in the coming weeks.  It's all perfectly normal, healthy even, but that doesn't make the explanations any easier as a parent.  Someday I'm sure we'll be thanking Surfboard for this relatively gentle introduction to mortality, but for the moment we'll be uncomfortably muddling through some toughies.  R.I.P., Surfboard.