The Crazy family is back on the blog after a summer break from many things, and a major change in our lives (Momma got a real job!). It is back to school time, and we are in full swing now, and as is normal, in our world, "full swing" usually results in some funny stories to relay. The latest funny story is one of a animal loving girl, a piggy bank full of money (well, kind of full), and a moment of weakness... (okay a lifetime of weakness... whatever!)...and a few other elements.Our horse loving, puppy worshiping, all around animal loving girl is in MIDDLE SCHOOL now -- they call it "Intermediate School". Her twin brother, who we now refer to as "Major League" (later story), is also in Intermediate school. They correct me every time I say middle school, but it is the step between Elementary and Junior High, which I guess has different names. Anyway, they have lockers and 4 teachers, and it seems big for our littles.
Among many first week of school requests, in between various requests for skinny jeans and cell phones, Maggie returned home last week and informed us that she was to buy her teacher a goldfish for her birthday on Saturday, that the teacher loves fish, and that "everyone" is doing this. By the way, "Everyone" also has a cell phone at age 10 and grade 5, and I am sure we are going to hear more about what "everyone" has and does not have, and is and is not doing this year -- it seems to be more important with this new grade. Each day, she returned from school and reminded me of the fish. Each day, the number of fish she was to buy grew, and at some point, it was a fish, a frog, and a shrimp... she just cannot get enough of animals / mammals / creatures. By the end of the week, she had decided that while shopping for this fish gift for her teacher, she might want to get a fish for herself. When I raised my eyebrow, she informed that she would use her own money to buy a fish bowl... which grew to a fish tank. When we began to protest her using her money for a fish tank, she proposed that she use it to buy a cell phone... so fish tank it was. At age 10, we just aren't ready to take the cell phone step / plunge, even if this person "everyone" has it. For starters, we wouldn't keep up with them for longer than a day...On Saturday, after our session at horseback riding, we had 2 tasks. 1) to buy/rent a clarinet, and 2) to shop for the fish (plural). I knew nothing about fish species, so we visited our friendly Petsmart and inquired about the process for acquiring a sea creature. What kind of tank / bowl do we need and what other supplies are required? We asked about the teacher's fish first, and were told that we couldn't keep a goldfish overnight unless we had a tank. So... we acquired a tank. It is defined by Petsmart as a small tank, but 10 gallons seems awfully big to me. I envisioned a small round bowl sitting on Maggie's dresser, but apparently there aren't many fish that will live long in a bowl. We also learned that you just cannot buy a tank and a fish and be done. You must take the tank home, add water, apply treatment, install filter, bubble maker, gravel,etc., and allow several days for the water to be ready for a fish. We left the store with all of the tank parts, but no live creature... sigh!. BUT... Maggie was determined to return to the store on Sunday to acquire at least her teacher's fish. With a little luck, she hoped that, although the expert at Petsmart said several days, our tank would be ready for a short overnight guest in 24 hours, to allow her to keep her teacher's gift fish. So... on Sunday, between Girl Scout meeting and dinner, we returned to Petsmart, talked to another fish expert, who shook his head, but said the fish "might" live in our tank for a few hours, enough to transport it safely to the teacher's tank this morning... and so Maggie selected her fish for the teacher, made one more plea to acquire a few of her own (I held strong - yes that is me... strong), and we left with one fish that would be our guest for one night, and we would all have to pray that he survived in the mystery water that awaited him in Maggie's new habitat.... And... He DID! We checked frequently before we slept last night, expecting to find a mishap, but we made it through the night. The fish guy told us to wait until last minute to place the fish back into the bag to transport to school, so we planned to do this after breakfast.
The morning continued with the regular chaos of getting four kids dressed, eight shoes located, and four mouths fed, four backpacks ready, lunches packed, this and that. As we were wrapping up breakfast, moving into lunchbox requests, our youngest bounces into the kitchen with the goldfish in the net -- no water, just flopping around in the air, in the net! He was so proud of himself for catching the fish! EVERYONE SCREAMED in unison "B-E-NNN!" He ran off, and all kids followed to see if the fish would survive this. Thankfully, the fish happily entered the water and began to swim around... and then he happily entered that plastic bag and thanked his lucky stars that he would reside in a 5th grade classroom and not in our home. He sent a prayer up for that not so lucky fish from his tank at Petsmart that would be selected to reside in our home one day. Ben cried for 20 minutes because everyone scared him so much when we all yelled! It's all good... whew -- that was a close call!
This story has kept me laughing all day... We all survived the day -- even the fish!
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