RIP Blue

When Nastya came over for Katelyn's birthday, she brought Ashley a blue fighting fish. It's called a fighting fish because they'll attack and kill other fish. Ashley was very excited to have her own pet, she named him Blue. We put the fish bowl in her room, and it was her job to feed him every morning and evening, and I'd change his water once a week.

He was doing alright for a couple of months, until he got more and more lethargic over a period of a week, and then one morning Ashley and I found him on his side on the bottom of the tank. Ashley thought he was sleeping, but it was obvious that he wasn’t. Once I told her that he was dead, she got very upset. It’s the first time that something she cared about was no longer living. She was crying so hard and I didn’t know what to say. We needed backup, so Nana came to the rescue. We called her up on the phone and she explained to Ashley that Blue went up to fish heaven, because God needed him to help him take care of the fish. Ashley had a lot of questions about everything, especially how does Blue get to heaven, so Nana explained that it’s God’s secret, and that when no one is around he takes him to heaven. Ashley felt much better knowing that Blue is ok and she talked about him a lot and how she missed him, but it was ok. So, while Ashley ate breakfast, I flushed Blue down the toilet and put the fish bowl with water back in Ashley’s room. When Ashley came up to brush her teeth she saw that Blue was gone and that he was now in heaven. We said a little prayer for him and that’s it. Ashley asked for another fish, but I don’t think we want to do this again right now, perhaps when she’s a bit bigger.