As a kid, I always hated the scene in Pollyanna when the pastor yells to the church, "DEATH COMES UNEXPECTEDLY!!!!" I just never grasped the point of that coming from the pupit. Well, after our day today, I keep replaying that scene in my head over and over again. We experienced our first unexpected death this morning when Logann when into her room to feed her fish. (Keep in mind, we have only had these fish since last Wednesday. So, we are going strong on six WHOLE days!!)
This morning she went in to give "Ephraim" and "Finnley" their breakfast, and as she entered her room I hear her yell, "Mom! Something's wrong!" I arrive to find "Finnley" floating on his side as "Ephraim" happily swims circles around the bowl. The water felt a bit chilly so I moved the bowl into the kitchen with the thought that her room must have been too cold causing the fish to die.
We sadly called Nana and Poppa (since they so thoughtfully gave us the fish) to tell them the sad, sad news. Logann bravely explained to them her hypothesis on what happened to her beloved fish. Nana tried her best to help Logann feel better by telling her that goldfish usually don't last too long in a fishbowl. (Little did we know how true this statement would become!)
Nana and Poppa surprised us with a visit and with a new "fancier" fish to take "Finnley's" place. Pop cleaned out the bowl and placed the second "Finnley" in his clean, new home. I noticed "Ephraim" had a funny look in his eyes. Maybe he wasn't fond of his new friend or maybe he was just mourning the loss of his buddy. We left them to bond over their clean rocks while we all went to eat lunch, only to return and find "Ephraim" floating on his back. Logann took this bad news a bit easier this time. We carefully removed "Ephraim" from the bowl and placed him in the funeral cup in which we saved the bodies until Dad could get home to say good-bye. Again, I noticed that "Finnley 2" had that same weird look in his eyes. I just brushed it off as a coincidence. Seriously, how could we loose 3 fish in 1 day? Impossible! He was just in shock from a traumatic day.
Well, according to Pastor Pollyanna, "Death comes unexpectedly!" Now, I'm thinking he should have changed it to EXPECTEDLY! By mid-afternoon, "Finnley 2" did pass away. He was added to the death cup, and once Jeremy got home from work, we sang "Amazing Grace" and gently flushed the ol' boys down the toilet. I've heard a saying that death comes in 3's, and we definitely experienced that today. Who would have guessed 3 fish in one day?!?!
Logann was such a champ through it all. At the end of the day she said, "I don't want any more fish. It costs too much to keep loosing them so fast." For such a tragic day, she handled herself so maturely. Even by the end of the "funeral" she was more amazed at how they swirled around in the toilet to even be bothered that they were gone forever!
She loved walking around with them, and she would have stayed there all day except we scooped her up once they started laying little pellets from their back sides! Surprise!
Logann was hoping to see the alligators, but they must have been inside because of the cold. To make up for it, she loved the gorilla who was napping on the hill. He had snatched a blanket and was snoozing in the sunshine. We laughed so hard to see him just lounging out in the grass!
