Tuesday, June 2, 2009

A Funeral For Bell The Fish

The other day we lost our Beta fish Bell. My children were heartbroken. After we told Syd that Bell, our fish for the past 18 months, had passed away Sydney said, "So now that Bell is dead can we get a cat?"

Morgan showed her inner feelings even more than Sydney when we had this conversation in typical Morgan fashion with her head cocked to the side, chomping loudly on gum, with a slightly arrogant air about her:

"So Mom our beta fish died."
"I know. She was old."
"So are we gonna like eat her now or something?"
"Umm no, but glad you see you are handling your emotions so well." :-)

Despite the lack of emotion I expected to see from a 5 and 3 year old, they didn't want to flush the fish so we proceeded in typical pet-loss fashion and buried Bell The Fish. Sydney said a few words while I watched, trying not to mock the spectacle Loren created. I am not much of a "pet funeral" person--maybe I am just callous or lacking emotion, who knows? Either way, the funeral continued. Sydney said she loved watching Bell chase her food. Morgan said she liked when she hit the fish tank to scare Bell. As you can tell, my girls will miss their fish dearly. They didn't even wait for the body to cool off before they plotted how to get a cat. Not sure about that one yet. I don't want to imagine what a cat funeral would look like.

~Syd is heartbroken, clearly.


~Morgan hides the pain inside---deep, deep down. :)


~It is fascinating watching dad scoop the fish carcass out of the water.


~There is a great place for her final resting spot...right next to mom's Mothers Day Flowers.


~Those are fake frowns...they were just excited to watch dad dig in the dirt.

14 comments:

The Lane Family said...

I LOVE this blog and especially Morgan's comments that is so funny!! The pictures are so cute even if it is fake remorse. Good Luck with the cat...I think I would go for a dog!!

For me growing up on a farm I quickly learned that things are born and they die so I am like you when it comes to pet funeral's. Except for maybe my favorite dog growing up!

sarefamily said...

Funny Shamae- Nikki and I were inspecting that fish to determine if it was dead or not- I guess is was!!! Your girls make me laugh!!!

Jennifer said...

Oh my goodness....that's hilarious!!!

Heather said...

Oh my goodness, that sounds like my boys!!! Last year our Beta Fish died and Jaxon was excited to help Daddy flush it down the toilet!!!! If it had been me at that age, I would've been devastated! Love the fake frowns!!

wendys said...

Your girls are so funny. I love the huge smiles.

Rachel said...

LOL how cute. Funny how we think something will affect our children but it doesn't at all. The boys reacted pretty much the same way when their fishes died. Their first comment was can we get different ones now! :) Now as for the cat.... didn't you post a while back that there was a stray cat that had adopted you?? I thought Loren had purchases stuff for the cat.... or am I confused here??!! :)

caligirlinfl said...

Oh my gosh. My husband would love the comment about whether you all are going to eat her now. I can see your girls are distraught. I hope they can get over Bell's death soon. ; )

KLTTX said...

I know that I have said it before, but Morgan sounds like a riot! Your girls are so cute. How can you resist those faces and not get them the cat that they so desparately NEED.

BTW, thanks for the comment on my blog. It did answer my questions. Seems like with modern technology, they could make it a little less manual but I guess machines could always break and the consequences would be horrible. You guys are handling Sydney's disease with such grace.

Wortham Family said...

that's really funny, you guys are so good with your girls, we would of just flashed it down the toilet. Your girls are just too cute.

The Herrigs said...

Your post is so funny...so sorry for your loss...hopefully you can cheer your girls up soon:)

The Ricks Family said...

That is too funny, we had an incident like this at our house. It is kind of a long story but after Brycen tried to befriend a dead bird (by wrapping it in my good hand towel and putting it under his pillow on his bed)I decided we would get them a fish. When it died a few days later he said, "that's ok, now can I get something that will go on my shoulder? like a parrot or a monkey! You have to love it, I just chalk the insensitivity to well adjusted kids :-)

Michelle said...

Oh my gosh I am laughing so hard! C'mon why didn't ya have Beta fillet for dinner. LOL! That cracks me up! Maybe it will be good fertilizer for your flowers!

Dawn said...

So did you just for a minute want to tell her that you were going to have the fish for dinner?

Your girls are too funny. You really could have your own sitcom. . .

periwinkle4 said...

Oh my heck I was totally ROFL! You are so funny and your girls are too cute!