Something Fishy

I remember being a kid, anticipating the arrival of the infamous "June Jamboree"... dubbed more recently by high schoolers that I know as simply the "June Jam".

A sign of the times I suppose. 

When I was younger, I couldn't wait to get to the fair.  It was as though I was approaching Disney World every time.  However, as an adult, I find myself dreading to go - hoping to hold my kids off from going more than 1 day. 

This year I told the kids we could go to the fair on Friday evening.  So, after a busy day, we ventured to town to hit the fair.

As we pulled in, parked the car and walked toward the fair, Bekah and her friend Jordan could barely stand it.... they were dying to get there!  Sometimes I miss that innocence. 

I agreed to let them play one game with the money their grandmas gave them, and of course - chose the fish game.  Can you imagine my excitement when they both won a fish!?

About an hour later, we left the fair; fish in tow and headed home.  Bekah's fish found its home in an old pitcher while Jordan's lived at her house in a bowl for the night.  Byt this morning, both fish were dead.

Surprised? 

No.

I laughed and said that it sounded like it was time for a fish funeral.

I didn't know they'd take me seriously.

Within about 10 minutes,  they had gone in Bekah's room, through her closet and found a couple of nice dresses that would help them pay their respects to the poor fair fish, that were destined to a short life.

Playing along, their brothers and a couple of their friends put together a funeral processional on their bicycles, riding single file down the road in route to the location where the fish would be buried ....

together....

forever.

Trying not to laugh, the boys dug a shallow grave and lowered the fish into the Earth.  Soon after the burial, the boys disappeared while the girls hung out by the grave and looked at the flowers, freshly picked from the flowerbed, laying against the rocks at the head of the grave.

It certainly not the type of occasion that should've warranted me laughing histerically whilst trying to explain to a sad little girl that her fish had died at the same time as Jordan's because they wanted to be together in heaven.

It was a bonding moment.  A time when I should've been really explaining life and death, but instead, all i could think about was trying to get her to stop crying so I could grab my camera, hide in the bushes and act like the papparazzi.

Ya win some and you lose some.

Luckily, as the day went on, the girls have forgotten about the fish funeral that went down this morning.

I haven't... I'm still laughing.