Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Lessons in Life

We had a couple of sad events take place this weekend. For Lizzie really, and by extension of her pain, for me too. Javier takes a more realistic "tough guy" approach. Lizzie and I had a couple of minutes to spare between taking our cans & bottles to the recycling depot and moving on to the birthday party, so we decided to visit the puppies at a local pet shop. Little Lizzie fell head over heals in love with a little puppy. She knew in her little heart that we were not going to get a puppy, but you can't control your heart right?

We travel far too much to bring a puppy into the house and we don't think it would be fair to kennel a dog. However, the look on her face almost made me want to go over to the counter, plunk down my credit card, and prepare for some hardcore puppy training. That was my mother instinct. Thankfully, my practical instinct kicked it and made me realize how mad Javier would be to come home to a puppy!

She was pretty subdued for the rest of the day and even the following morning. I asked her what was wrong and she said, with a big fat tear running down one cheek, "I think I have a pretty bad case of puppy love".  Awww.

The puppy above is similar to the one in the store. Image source: http://members.shaw.ca/crystaljems

We left the puppies and moved onto another pet store that specializes in fish, so Lizzie could spend some of her "hard-earned" recycling money on some fish for her aquarium. 

She saved her money and bought her own tank at the beginning of January, along with Tom & Jerry (in above picture). I thought this was a great idea, until I realized I'd be the one cleaning the tank.   Oh well, anything for the little girl right?

Anyway, she's had the tank for over a month and she wanted a couple of new fish, which she purchased. We followed the store's instructions and released the fish into our tank. One did a couple of loop-de-loops and promptly flopped down on the bottom of the tank, belly up. The other lasted for about 12 hours, before joining his dearly departed friend at the bottom of the tank. It was a sad, sad day. She christened them Chester and Brightheart before we surrendered them back to the store, because she felt they couldn't go to heaven without names. Again, awww. 

All in all, it was not a successful weekend for pets. She's smiling again though. She never stays sad for long.

(side note: the store agreed to give us new fish once we fixed the water quality in our tank)

8 comments:

Liz Harrell said...

Bless her little heart! That would be a traumatic week for a grown up, let alone a little girl! Please give her a hug for me. If I lived close I would bring Mabel over and let them play. And then she would probably decide never ever to own a dog. :)

karlascottage.typepad.com said...

How sad, I remember how much I loved my fish when I was a little girl.

Unknown said...

I know how she feels! We lost a couple of fish a few months ago and we were so sad!

Clare said...

Have arrived from Flossie Teacakes - and what another wonderful blog to read. I am little new - but am loving blogging and also crafting (although I still have stabilisers on)
Clare xx

kari and kijsa said...

What a sweet story, and an obviously sweet little girl!

blessings,
kari & kijsa

Cottage Contessa said...

Oh I know all too well about puppy love! I'm a sucker for the pet store. My husband tells me to "move away from the area!" lol Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to leave a comment. I really appreciate it and will be back to visit you again often. Have a wonderful day!
Amanda (aka Cottage Contessa)

MJ said...

Poor Lizzie! I agree that fish just isn't a great substitute for a dog ~ but you already have cats and they will snuggle and purr!

I too have been resisting the urge for a dog. K desparately wants one so we don't regularly go to pet stores. I suspect I'll eventually submit but then it will have to be K, N & my responsibility as my dh doesn't want a dog. Hmmm... I noticed Javier has the same opinion as my dh...

Tara said...

I have always found fish tough to take care of and who can bear a little one's first dealing with misfortune?? Thanks to the fish store for helping out!