Last week my daughter’s goldfish died. Much weeping ensued, since she’d become attached to it in the day we’d had it. Not really. That one day was enough time for my 8 year old to realize what a worthless pet a goldfish is, something I’d been harping about since the Goldfish Debacle of ’01, when the two goldfish my son brought home from school had the nerve to live for five years.
Not that I hate fish– I just think they should remain in the lake or the pond or the pet shop or the neighbor’s house from whence they came. Their tank/bowl is a pain to clean, and other than the constant swimming in circles, which I could watch for seconds, they give you no return for your work.
Unlike cats, fish don’t catch mice or purr or even wake you up in the morning by sitting on your face until you suffocate. They are not as good as dogs either, who keep the cats from using the sandbox in the backyard as a litter box. Dogs also wash your face with their wet, slobbery kisses, even though you shower every day and their tongues are not clean.
So, I unceremoniously flushed the fish down the toilet and we moved on to the next trial, which was putting together a 300 piece puzzle.
A girl had asked my 16 year old to Preference (girl’s choice dance). To find out the name of the girl, he had to put together a puzzle. Her name was written on the back.
Now, a 300 piece puzzle doesn’t sound like much, but it took more than a couple of hours to finish it. Our one consolation as we were slaving over the puzzle was that the girl had to put it together first, before she wrote her name on it.
We put the puzzle on a clear cutting board so that we would be able to lift it up and look on the backside of the puzzle for the name. Everyone helped out, but the puzzle didn’t really start to take shape until my husband got home. He’s a puzzle master.
As soon as we could read the name on the back, the rest of us were done putting the puzzle together. But not my husband. He kept going until every last piece was placed in the puzzle. Or would have been.
The puzzle was missing two pieces. We searched the floor. We brought in the dogs to look. But they were too busy cleaning our faces to sniff out the pieces. We finally gave up. The pieces were probably lost before the puzzle came into our possession.
But my son is excited about going to Preference. He’s thrilled about the girl who asked him, too, for three reasons:
- She drives a Mustang.
- She’s cute. And nice. And sweet.
- She drives a Mustang.
Now, that’s not shallow at all. Because a mustang, that’s a much better pet than a goldfish.
I’ll have you know I’m puzzle liperite, or liderote, or literate, or whatever. We dogs only lick your human faces for two reasons- 1) You love it, and 2) You need washing. Growl! Read “Caught in the Pot” on my blog- it starts with a lick. Visit me at: http://www.SandySays1.wordpress.com