Shelly's Thoughts. . . .

I like fish tanks. I think watching fish swim is very relaxing so for the past 5 or 6 years I have kept a Beta in my office. My first beta was named Dirk – he was a pretty blue and I got him during basketball season . . . so of course I named him after my favorite Mav. Dirk must have been the exception to the rule because he lived for almost two years. Once he “passed” I waited a respectable amount of time and went and got another fish – this time we named him Sam. I called to check on Sam while I was on vacation and asked my friend in the office, Amanda Griffith, if she was feeding Sam. She replied yes but when I got back from my vacation I noticed the fish bowl was empty. Apparently, Sam kicked the bucket while I was gone and Amanda did not want to ruin my vacation . . . she is sweet in that way. After Sam, I got Charlie . . . Charlie barely made it two weeks – not really sure what his problem was but he was just not meant to be. Last week, I got another fish – I did not tell anyone in the office about the new fish, nor did I name it – it was a very busy and hectic day – way too hectic to attempt to name a fish. So the next morning when I arrived at work I am looking in the bowl and there is no fish. As I begin to look around I finally find him – dead, dried out like a piece of leather on my desk calendar. He landed and flapped around on Tuesday September 1 and made his way over to Wednesday September 2 as there are little fish scales on those dates. But here are the two big questions – do I strip off the September calendar and just be without a calendar for September? And secondly – why did my fish commit suicide? In answer to my first question, Steve, my big boss, came up with a great solution – we just put sticky notes over those two days so I do not have too look at the crime scene. As for the second question I guess I will never know what early fishood tragedy caused him to jump from his bowl. Many in my office think that fish suicide is a sign that I should probably NOT get another fish . . . but I disagree – now it is more of a quest, a challenge to find the perfect fish . . . that can survive for at least 6 months to year. So now, I have Griff - he has been alive and swimming for 3 days now - we are off to a good start! And I have named him Griff in honor of Amanda Griffith, because when she returns we will not longer have a Griffith - he name will be Harvey . . . Congrats Amanda HARVEY!!!!!