Tuesday, May 19, 2009

First Loss

Yesterday evening, our younger daughter's pet fish passed away. Patrick was a yellow beta, and had been with our daughter for almost two years. He'd been ailing for a week or so, and finally died just before bedtime last night. Our daughter was very upset, as you might imagine. Losing a pet is always difficult.  Losing your first pet is so, so hard.

I'm very proud of her. She took really good care of that fish, and loved it as much as a person can care for a little aquarium-dweller.

Her older sister was fantastic. She was there for her little sister, sitting with her arms wrapped around her as she cried, and bringing her favorite stuffed animals to her for a little extra comfort.

Tonight, we buried Patrick in the vegetable garden. His resting place is marked with a large stone, from those we dug up from the yard during a big landscaping project four years ago. Our daughter plans to paint a picture of her fish on the rock, with a memorial message. "I miss Patrick" is the front runner.


It's been a hard couple of days for our little girl. She's a deeply emotional and caring soul. She feels the loss intensely.

I want to be able to do something. To make it better. It's hard to have only words to offer at a time like this.

More pets will be joining the family in the near future. We're looking at kittens, and planning to give a home to a dog in a few months. But for now, that's out of our minds, replaced by the loss of our daughter's fishy friend.  The light in Patrick's tank is out.  The pump is silent.  We'll miss you, Patrick.

Food log (today):

Breakfast: "Waldorf salad" of apples, blueberries and bananas, with french vanilla yogurt and granola, spiked with ground flax seeds.

Lunch: steamed fresh veggies, and half a chicken breast, in some kind of salty buttermilk sauce, from the cafe at work. Not my favorite. Too salty.

Dinner: fried chicken salad, with beets and bleu cheese on romaine lettuce, with Honey Mustard dressing, and a slice of homemade bread with butter. We've been playing around with our Honey Mustard recipe. Here's the latest. We like it a lot. We make it in small batches, and keep it in the refrigerator to preserve the integrity of the olive oil.  Put everything in some suitable container, shake vigorously, and chill.
1/4c olive oil
1/4c honey
3T lemon juice
2T dijon mustard
Snack: Two Dove dark chocolate singles. A very small scoop of ice cream for dessert tonight, with a little whipped cream on top.

Food log (yesterday):

Breakfast: granola, 1% milk and some strawberries

Lunch: leftover salmon with lime zest and salt, leftover sauteed vegetables

Dinner: tuna and white bean salad, half a piece of homemade bread with butter

Snacks: another cupcake, an apple, two squares of dark chocolate

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