The Loss of a Pet

Lacie and Leslie have each had a betta fish for nearly two years now. On the day Lacie got her front teeth pulled in April of 2007, Del took her to the pet store to get a fish. She named him Rupert. Naturally, Leslie couldn't let Lacie be the only one with a pet, so she got to go the next day to pick out her fish. His name was "Sissa." When she bestowed that name upon him, I asked her, "Don't you mean Sister?" No, she was adamant; his name was Sissa.

I didn't have very high expectations for the fish. Every pet fish I had as a child died within a day, so when these fish lived a week, I was pleasantly surprised. A week turned into a month, which turned into a year, and nearly two years next month. We came in from playing outside last night and found Sissa floating on his side at the bottom of her tank. I had read that the average betta life span is 1 to 2 years, but they can live for 3 years with "excellent care." Since I would not consider us award-winning betta owners, I knew he would die sooner than later, but I was still surprised.

When Del told Leslie, she was sad, but it was fleeting. When he told her she got to flush him down the toilet, she perked up because as we all know - thanks to Nemo -all pipes lead to the sea! So she excitedly took him to the bathroom and flushed him down the toilet. As she did, she said this prayer, "Dear God, Thank you for Sissa. Please help him get alive again when he gets to the sea. Amen".

Other than thinking it's not fair that her sister's fish didn't die too, Leslie is good. Rupert is alive and well - much to Leslie's chagrin - but Lacie did say she would share her fish with her sister....