A Sad Day for a Little Boy...

When our friends moved 6 months ago, they couldn't take their aquarium. So we inherited a giant gold fish. Jaden quickly claimed the fish and named him Thomas the Train. Though he loved the fish, most of the time he forgot to feed him, so I got to do it, along with cleaning his stinky tank. Well, last Wednesday, I went to check on Jaden before going to bed. I had been gone that evening, so Daniel had put the kids to bed. I opened Jaden's door and was greeted with a very foul smell. As I suspected, there was poor Thomas afloat. I got the aquarium out of Jaden's room and set it outside the back door. The next morning I had to explain what had happened. First there was confusion, disbelief, then great body racking sobs. It was so sad to see my little boy in such emotional anguish. I tried to talk to him and give him loves and calm him down. Finally, Jaden turned to me and said, "Mom, let's watch Anne." (Anne of Green Gables, one of my favorites). I couldn't help but laugh a little at my 3-yr-old seeking for comfort in Anne. However, we settled on the couch together with a blanket, and watched a movie until Zoee woke up. Later, we had a little fish funeral for Thomas the Train. Jaden was very brave, and even wanted to help dig the grave. We couldn't round up too many flowers this time of year, so we opted for a lemon from our tree to decorate the grave.:) Not much has been mentioned since then, except for an occasional questions about how Thomas is doing up with Heavenly Father ...So I think that poor little broken heart is healing.  We'll keep this on the down low, but for reasons of stinky tank cleaning, mom isn't too awfully sad that the fish has moved on...