Music boxes

Music boxes
Music boxes have within melodies they carry in them, once they're open music feels the air;
Every person you have known has a song of their own, once they open up you'll hear whats there;
Every person longs to find who they are deep inside, every person yearns to know their place..."

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

And that, my friends, is why I don't have pets.

Unstopable dreamer

My daughter and I have reached an agreement about pets a long time ago. She was three years old then, she's 8 now, but she still remembers everything very well. She wanted a horse; I said she could have one, when she was 26 and if she was married. Agreed. Then she wanted a dog; I told her she can have a dog at 18 when she moves to college, and the dog goes with her. Also agreed. After that came the kitty cat conversation; we decided that when she's 16 she can have one; by then I'm assuming she'll be able to care for the cat. Finally came the goldfish. Ok, you can have a goldfish when you're 8! Somehow, when you kids are 3 years old, 8 seems like a very long time, I mean, come on, she'll be baptized! My daughter, baptized!? That's a loooong way off! So, every dear wish would be put off until she turned 8. Including a complete room makeover and the so dreamed of trip to Disneyworld. Well, guess what? She's eight. I just closed my eyes and when I woke up she had grown!

Her first choice was the room makeover, so we did that for her birthday. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it. In fact, it turned out so cute that she never mentioned the other things again... until last week, when her 2nd grade teacher offered a goldfish to all the kids, with parent's permission of course. Right, like I can say no! There's no choice. She comes home with three little goldfish, beaming with excitment. Right away, I went online and became familiar with the fish, got everything they needed, and off they go in a cute tank.

OK, you may be thinking I don't like pets. Wrong. Just the opposite. I don't have them because I love them. Not making sense? Well, there I was last week watching the fish as if I was watching TV. Even my daughter got bored, but not me! I pulled up a chair, sat down and watch them swim, fascinated with every move. I learned that fish poop like we do. You should see my cry of excitment when I saw them do it, I called the whole family to come and marvel at the sight. I'm serious now; if you haven't seen a fish poop, something is missing in your life.

So, TV, computer, housechores, everything took the backseat. Watching the fish swim, eat and poop took priority in my life. Until 3 days later, when I realize one of them is not eating, and is acting weird. I yell at it to go and eat, but he doesn't, and I know something is terribly wrong. Sure enough, we find him floating the next morning. The same happened to another one the next day; by now, my daughter is quite sad but I am completely going crazy! I run to the pet store and gather all the info I need, what I did wrong, etc... the lady's conclusion? Well, sometimes fish just die. What? That's it? I did everything right and they still died?
I'm a nutcase by now. I buy 2 more fish, only these come with a warranty, if they die withing 2 weeks, I can replace them for free. But seriously, how do you replace a pet you love? I'm reading these words and realizing this is me talking! Not the little old lady that knits sweaters for her little dog and loves him like a child. This is ME!

So now you know why I don't let my kids have a kitty or a puppy. I'm really not a bad mom. It's just that if I'm like this with a creature that does nothing and I can't even touch, imagine me with another pet, I'd go bananas.
Now you know that I don't have pets because I love them. yup. I love them too much.

Gotta go now. My 4 year old is crying for me because he's hungry; gotta go make him lunch.

But not before I check on the fish.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

I'm here...

Unstopable dreamer

I'll come back later with more time to fill you in on what's going on around here!