Many of you did not know that we had another pet in addition to our beloved, spoiled Berkeley. In October of 2004, we became the proud, though often neglectful, owners of a red Betta fish at the reception of our friends, Rosanne & Jason Clark. I’m not sure what type of Betta he was. We didn’t even have a picture of him (so this image is borrowed from someone else). His name was Berkeley’s Fish. Yes, our dog had his own pet. and like most children, he did not take care of his pet, we – as the human parents – did all the work.

Berkeley’s Fish was an odd fishy. He would follow me with his eyes while I cooked or stood near the countertop where his bowl was perched. Especially if he was hungry. Yet, when I would put the food in his bowl, he wouldn’t eat it unless he saw it hit the water. So of course, that led to dirty, murky water, which in turn would create issues for his little skin. A few months ago, he even had a bout with pop-eye. If you’ve never seen a fish with pop-eye, it’s really gross and intriguing at the same time. There’s this weird bubble that forms over an eye and bulges out of the side of the fish’s head. And if not treated properly, the eye could fall out! (Yes, our fishy also had drugs for his conditions.)

Anyway, the past several weeks, Fishy has been looking and acting rather lethargic. So, I knew something was wrong, but couldn’t tell just what. There wasn’t anything growing on him, like fungus or parasites, and there wasn’t anything falling off him, like his scales or fins. He just didn’t seem right.

Last night, I knew he was close to the end. He was doing a weird tail stand. It looked like he was walking on his back fins on the bottom of the fish bowl. Like there was an extra weight anchoring him down. And he was breathing oddly. He would try so hard to get to the top of the bowl to get air, but he couldn’t remain floating high enough, while “standing” mind you, to get the oxygen he needed. He also had some spastic moments. He’d start to float sideways or downward to the bottom, and then get a surge of something in his body, so he would end up swimming wildly around the bowl. Needless to say, after 3 hours of watching him do this off and on, I noticed he stopped moving and was just laying at the bottom of the bowl. He used to do this before, and we could stimulate him to move again. But Jon said, “Nope, he’s not breathing.” and that was it.

I had to leave the room, while Jon carried the bowl to the bathroom for the burial/swoosh of Berkeley’s Fish. I didn’t realize how attached I was to this fish. It’s not like he comforted me, or cuddled with me, or anything like the Berkeley does. But I still feel a sense of loss and sadness.

Goodbye Berkeley’s Fish. Thank you for being our fish for as long as you could. You were beautiful and odd and easy to take care of.

Well I hope you all survived what has become the craziness of the holidays. We had a mellow Christmas and a relatively mild New Years. Perfect respite for us, since we’ve been so busy with Blue Star. We didn’t do anything fancy and we didn’t spend too much money. All we did was enjoy the time with friends and family, and that made it a wonderful holiday.

Despite being in the beginnings of the month of January, our weather here is quite mild. Hardly any snow left on the ground and thank goodness no freezing! But yet the gloomy weather of northern Indiana does not help. It’s supposed to be cold and snowy, not overcast and rainy. Where has our winter gone?

I will post again soon, once I establish new routines for the new year.

Love & Aloha!