Goodbye Johnson and Johnson!

Well....Sunday was a rough day for Aidan. His first pet died, his fish Johnson and Johnson. It was given to him almost a year ago from his preschool teacher Miss Margaret. When he brought it home he was so excited! He immediately named him Johnson and Johnson (the KBull 93 D.J.'s) Then he wanted to go get him a new fish tank. We found a cute little pirates tank and began the lesson of how to take care of a fish. He did really good for a while. Then a couple months ago he stopped eating. All the food I gave him would just float on the top and he just hung out on the bottom of the tank. I have been waiting for him to die for months and Sunday it looked like he was ready. I found him laying sideways on the gravel, barely breathing. So Barry and I pulled Aidan aside and showed Johnson and Johnson to him and explained that he was having a really hard time breathing and was probably hurting. I told him that I thought it would be best if we sent him to fishy heaven. What came next was completely unespected.

Aidan looked at him for a bit and understood that he needed to go. Then he looked at me and asked if he would come back after he went to heaven. When I told him no he started crying. He was so upset. He just kept saying how much he would miss him, and how he was the best fish ever. It was the most heartbreaking, sincere cry. He was sitting on my lap and all the sudden asked "So will he be with God in heaven?" I said yes. A minute later he brought the phone down to me and asked if we could call God so that he could make sure that he would take care of Johnson and Johnson. I told him that God doesn't have a phone number, and that to talk to him we just say prayers. Then he went upstair and pulled a chair in front of the fish tank and started talking to Johnson and Johnson and telling him that he loved him and would miss him, and thank you for being such a good fish. By this point I was seriously contemplating doing goldfish mouth to mouth. He was so sincere, and so upset. He asked me to take a picture of him so that he could remember him forever. That's why he is sideways in the picture.

This experience taught me two things. 1) I don't think its a good idea for us to have another pet for a while. I don't if he could handle another heartbreak. and 2) that a four year old can be compassionate, and full of emotion. It was so hard to watch him lern this lesson, but I was so proud that he could feel so strongly and sincerely. He is such an amazing little boy and makes me so proud.

RIP Johnson and Johnson!