it's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to

Hmmmm......

Nope.   I don't really want to.

But, that's not to say that it's a day without heartbreak.  Not about my birthday though - that's all good.  I'm a lucky girl.  No, today we lost a family member.  We lost Gil.

Gil was a wonderful fish.  He showed that chivalry was not dead in the way he would let "the girls", his tankmates, get the best scraps of food.  And he always showed his gentle caring towards them when they would be floating upside down and doing their beachball impersonations while awaiting their daily fiber treatments.  He clearly had a big, yet two-chambered heart.


And gil was a looker.  Dark, obviously virile, and in perfect proportion.  And those bulging eyes - SO so deep.

I will miss Gil.  He'd been struggling lately, and I had a feeling his days were numbered.  Even in his last breath - or whatever breathing through Gil's gills was called - he attemtped to spare the family.  I found his body resting gently and hidden in the fronds of a thick plant. 

I distracted the ladies with some flake food and gently netted Gil's body.  We made a procession to the porcelain cemetary and carried out a proper submergence ceremony.   It was beautiful really.

And now I sit alone here with just my thoughts, after the ceremony, after the houseful of people paying respects (not really), and it is in this solemn hour that I bid fond farewell.

Rest in peace, Gil the fancy goldfish. May a flight of angel fish sing thee to thy rest.  Amen.

Cry if you want to.
.