First published May 2, 2014
Then quickly say, ” oh wait, YES, we have a goldfish!”
Then the laughter usually ensues from the other party, because I have learned that fish, especially one fish, isn’t really considered a pet, per se.
At least, by “pet people”.
Maybe it’s because fish are low maintenance, they eat their own poop, they don’t make any noise.
When we picked her up that day, she was carrying a clear plastic bag with something floating in it and had a HUGE smile on her face.
We already had “us” a dog at the time.
A crazy, makes Marley look like a tame poodle, uber hyper, eats furniture, poop, crayons, and entire bundt cakes yellow lab mix dog named Riley.
Anna said it was a boy fish and that she would like to name it Jake. So when we got home, we put Jake in the only bowl we could find, a glass trifle bowl meant for desserts.
We didn’t have high expectations because it was a fair fish and like clockwork, within two weeks Jake was a goner.
But his imminent demise occurred while our daughter was on a weekend getaway with my parents in Wisconsin.
So we did what we thought good parents would do; we bought a replacement fish at Petco for 75 cents.
As well as a mate for the replacement fish.
To cushion the blow.
Enter Jake, the sequel, and Lucy.
A year later, Jake, the sequel perished while we were at the Taste of Chicago.
Mike and I found him laying on the kitchen rug when we got home.
We surely thought Lucy would go soon after because of the whole fish widow thing.
But soon after we realized that she was, dare I say, happier upon Jake’s dramatic exit?
She gained more color, she was eating better, she looked vibrant.
Eight years later and she is still going strong.
Our goldfish that we spent 75 cents on is still alive eight years later and yes, it is just as shocking to us as it is to you.
This you need to know, we don’t put any chemicals in her water, we feed her regular fish food, the same fish food from Wal Mart that we have bought from the beginning, we don’t do anything special, there are no cool plants in her bowl or those scary deep-sea divers with the creepy masks on.
The funny thing is that over the past eight years, Lucy has become family.
I talk to this fish every day and she wiggles like a dog when I get ready to feed her. She swims to the side of the bowl when she sees someone. She also splashes us in the family room on the couch under where she lies if we haven’t fed her. I swear to GOD, I am not making this up.
She is a huge conversation starter in our home. People who have been to our home before always greet Lucy when they first come into the house. First-timers most likely will say, holy crap that is a big goldfish! followed by, are you kidding me??, when they hear how old she is.
She is one cool chick, isn’t she?
I love this fish so much, our daughters love this fish so much, my husband even begrudgingly loves this fish so much.
She is family, she is our pet and she is so very special.
*Lucy is still going strong at the ripe age of 11!
*Update again- as of 2019, she is still going strong!
*Sad update- Lucy finally passed away on June 9, 2020. We will never forget our 14-year-old goldfish.
A Grace Full Life 
Awww…I had jumpers, but we never found them in time. My aunt had some antique goldfish. They even survived my cousin pulling the tank over…crash! There was a glass shard removal involved…from the fish, not the cousin! I seem to recall my aunt also thinking a fish was choking on gravel and she sprung into action with tweezers. I considered getting a fish for my vacant fish tank, but now am considering that trifle bowl in the basement I never use!
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The fish survived the glass shard????Fish are amazing.
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Loved this! I found myself getting attached to my kids' Betta fish. They actually had, dare I say it, personalities. Or something like it. We never had any jumpers, though. And now that they've gone to the big tank in the sky, we're considering getting more.
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Fish are good starter pets.I think you need to get another one.Or two.
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Amazing…..Lucy has lasted about 7 5 years longer than any fish we've ever owned. Impressive. Or scary…..because that just doesn't seem normal…
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Scary.Very scary.
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Have you considered that Lucy may have somehow flung Jake The Sequel out of the trifle bowl? I'm not saying she did, but she is a massive, 8-year old fish. You never know. She looks a little mean.
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TOTALLY.That is our theory.But we don't talk about it around her.Because she might try to take US down.
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I probably laughed harder than I should have at the goldfish jumping out of the bowl. I just really want to see how that occurred.
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We totally are under the impression that she pushed him out of the bowl.To get more food.
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Reblogged this on .
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I’m sorry for your loss. My condolences to you and your family. Lucy was one cool fish, like no other I’ve known.
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She really was one cool fish. Her soul is missed.
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Oh no. Two pets in one pandemic. That’s sad. She does have a great story. I am curious, did you ever tell Anna about the original Jake jumping to his death while she was away in Wisconsin? How long did you wait to tell her?
My MIL babysat one weekend for us when we got invited to Kohler to a spa/golf weekend through Coach’s work. It happened to be the school’s fun fair. I told Lad and Ed – do not even think about playing the fish game. No fish. Of course, Lad came home with a few bags of fish, and we were not home. Grandma had to deal with the fish. She put them on the dining room table, where the kids spilled half of the water and she didn’t clean it up and it ruined my table. Grrr. Of course none of the fish survived the weekend. MIL felt bad so she showed up one day with a beta fish for Lad. Without asking us. We had it for maybe a year, but I had 5 kids under age 8 at that point and they spilled smelly fish food all over the kitchen floor (cracks in the floor made it impossible to get out and OH THE SMELL), stuck shit in the tank, and made me clean her home. I told grandma to watch out or I would show up at her house one day with a puppy as a gift without her permission.
RIP Lucy.
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Beta fish are even more low maintenance, aren’t they? We didn’t entertain the thought of getting one of those over the years but then we didn’t think Lucy would live for as long as she did. ❤️
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