Ode to George W Fish

When Noah turned two and we had begun tackling the potty training stage, we told him that as a reward for getting out of diapers we would get him a fish. It was 2004, the political season in full force, and the political proclivities of his parents had evidently been rubbing off on him. We'd be driving around town and when he would see a Bush/Cheney yard sign, he would yell "4 MORE YEARS!!!" and if we passed a Kerry/Edwards sign he'd say in exasperation, "NO NO KERRY!!"

That's my boy!! We've indoctrinated him well! lol

So when it finally came time to purchase the fish, for fun we decided to get a red betta and name him George W Fish.

I can tell you not just cats have nine lives, fish do as well. Over the years George has had many close calls. He used to sit on the kitchen counter, but because of Jacob's obsession with water and constantly putting his grubby hands in the bowl to grab at the marbles at the bottom; George had to go into lock down up in our bedroom. But we were so amazed that George had survived as long as he did...3 years actually; that is until one fateful Sunday morning.

Joel and I work opposite schedules and are rarely home together. I was in a hurry getting ready for church and our helper wouldn't arrive until right before we had to leave. It's always a quandry as to how I am supposed to get a shower. If I lock the boys out of my room who knows what would happen downstairs in retaliation. (Like the time I came downstairs to an inch of water all over the kitchen.) But if I let them have free reign in our bedroom they mess up the computer; not to mention I get NO privacy. On this day I decided to let them in our room to play on the computer and play the Finding Nemo computer game we had just gotten a few days before.

Shortly after I got in the shower Jacob came in and was messing with the toilet. I kept hollering at him to get out and leave it alone but of course he persisted. Before getting in I had cleaned a glob of my hair and thrown it in the toilet, but not flushed it down. I assumed that Jacob was obsessing about that for some reason so I reached out and flushed the toilet. And amazingly Jacob went back to the computer game.

When I got out of the shower and was drying off, I noticed my dresser was covered with water. I frantically put my glasses on only to discover George was not in the fish bowl. I looked frantically around the floor hoping to see him gasping for air, flailing around but still alive. It was then I got that sick feeling in the bottom of my stomach. Jacob had decided to act out part of the Finding Nemo movie with George Fish and I was his unwitting accomplice!

Noah kept asking "Are sharks going to eat George? Is George going to find his Dad?" Meanwhile Jacob kept going to the toilet and looking in, "Say goodbye George! Fish all gone!"