About Rebecca Eckler
Since becoming pregnant with her daughter Rowan, Canadian journalist and author Rebecca Eckler has penned three hilarious books, including the best-selling Knocked Up. Catch Rebecca’s weekly unique perspective on motherhood and single parenthood.
Pet or Pest?
canada
(Dec.17.08)
Little Miss Rosie has died.
“Our fish died today,” I told a friend.
“That’s so sad,” he responded, which is the appropriate response when you tell a friend that your kid’s pet died.
“Not really,” I said.
Don’t get me wrong. I love animals. But when you’re a single mother, even a goldfish is an added responsibility, as I found out.
She was a gift from someone for my daughter on her 5th birthday. What a great gift, I thought. How original! Or so I originally thought.
By day two, I realized that not only was I yelling, “Eat your breakfast!” “Brush your teeth!’ and, “Where is your reading book?,” every morning in the mad rush to get my daughter to school, but also, “Did you feed Little Miss Rosie?”
By day five, I was asking everyone I knew, “What kind of person buys a five year-old a pet, without asking the mother first?” And, “How long, exactly, do goldfish live for?”
Why? Because, even though, yes, it is only a goldfish, I ended up being the one to take care of Little Miss Rosie. I cleaned her bowl, fed her twice a day, filled up the water. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but, honestly, it is, when you also have to do basically the same things for your five year-old by yourself.
My daughter’s father came to pick her up on Friday to take her for the weekend. Ah, two full glorious days of no responsibility!
On Sunday night, I picked my daughter up. “Oh my god!” I screeched to her. “Your fish! I forgot to feed her!” I raced to the bowl and, thankfully, she was still alive. Barely.
But this morning, (Groundhog day: Pancakes! Teeth! Reading book? Feed your fish!) Little Miss Rosie was floating.
“Mommy, you killed her! But that’s okay. I forgive you,” my daughter said, skipping away. I felt more awful about Little Miss Rosie than she did.
As we flushed her down the toilet, my daughter asked if she would come back as another fish. I told her Little Miss Rosie would come back as something, but most likely a stuffed animal.