family friday :: pbs

this week, our first family pet passed away. when the little dude was nearly three years old we got him a blue beta fish. we let him pick a name, and since he was obsessed with curious george on pbs, he chose to name his fish pbs. (sometimes affectionately referring to him as pbskids dot org) it was the first experience with death for both of our boys.


(finding the perfect place to bury his beloved fish)

when we first told the little dude he sort of just brushed it off like it was no big deal. knowing him like we do, we knew that wasn't the end of it. we followed-up with him and told him it was ok to be sad. as soon as he heard those words he broke down and cried. we asked him if he would like to bury him outside which he didn't really understand. since he has no experience with death he didn't understand why we would bury his fish in the ground. after explaining it, we went outside and he searched for the perfect place to bury pbs.



he finally decided that we would bury him right next to the newly planted sunflower seeds "so he can have plenty of shade from the flowers". doesn't it make your heart melt? so daddy and the little dude dug a little hole for pbs.



we all gathered around and we asked the little dude if he wanted to say something nice about pbs. he wasn't really sure what to say, so i suggested he could talk about what a good pet he had been and how much he would miss him. in the end, he decided to just say "i love you pbs."



we marked the spot with a rock from pbs' fish tank so that the kids could go visit him whenever they wanted. i heard him tell daddy later that night: "i'm going to say good morning and good night to pbs every single day."