A Fish Funeral...

I am sorry to let you know that we have had another passing in our family.  Jack's beloved fish, Gilligan, passed sometime on Monday.

I knew something was wrong when he came into the room. 
 "Mom it's urgent. Please come with me. It's urgent. Hurry mom."

While walking to his room I noticed Jack had one sock on, one sock off...something had suddenly distracted him. Uh oh. 

"Mom, Gilligan won't move. He just lays at the bottom." 
After much shaking of the tank and touching with a long Lego stick. We came to the conclusion that Gilligan had lived a long life and had died. Jack was so sad.

So yesterday, we had a fish funeral. 
Jack decided he wanted to bury him under his (Jack's) favorite tree. He went and got a shovel. It was the largest shovel we own. Notice Sam just turned and did not say a word. His smile tells us all what he was thinking. 
I said, "That's a mighty big shovel , Jack!"

We all took a turn digging the hole for Gilligan. 

 "You know Jack, when my fish died, all Mom did was flush it," shared Sam while digging. "Yea. Remember when Chubby died? Dad just threw him off the bridge for the raccoons to eat!"
Yea....we probably didn't handle those two passings the best. 

After Gilligan died, we kept Gilligan in a plastic container and then placed in a baggie. He had a bit of a stench to him from floating in the cup for two days. 
"Does he smell?" I asked.
"Nope," said Jack. "OH, Jeepers!" he then stated.
"Did you get a whiff?" I asked him.
"Oh yea," he replied.
"I bet that's what zombies would smell like," shared Sam.
(Really , Sam!)

 Jack loving placed him in the freshly dug hole.

We all said some kinds words and shared how good of care Jack took of Gilligan.

Jack carefully place the dirt over Gilligan.

 Jack had decorated a rock for Gilligan's marker for the time being. We will try to mark it better after winter. Jack wondered if it would be ok to crave Gilligan's name into the tree as a reminder. (wow)

 Jack drew a picture of a fish and wrote "Gilligan."

It was a nice little fish funeral.

R.I.P. Gilligan.