Lily "The Goldfish"

Today was Naomi's last official day of preschool. Today was "Bring your pet to school day." Since bringing Molly, our dog, to school would have been nothing short of disastrous, we decided to bring Lily, Naomi's pet goldfish.

To backtrack slightly, LILY, is actually Lily the Third. Naomi won Lily I at Tate's school's Family Fun Night. Lily I died. Dallas replaced Lily I before ANYONE noticed. He didn't even tell ME Lily I died.

Enter Lily II. I walked into Naomi's room one morning and GASPED. Lily's dead! SHE'S DEAD! WhatdoIdo? WhatdoIdo?!! Quick! Keep Naomi out of her room! That same day, Naomi told me how she sang to Lily and that Lily is now her "best friend." This is-well, WAS, a well loved goldfish! I did not know you could have quite such a dynamic relationship with a FISH! We had Kindergarten Orientation that day, where she told the teacher all about her pet Lily. Meanwhile, I'm mouthing (from behind Naomi) "LILY DIED LAST NIGHT!" When we got home, I called Dallas and told him the bad news and that he was going to have to bring home a new goldfish to sneak into Lily I's tank. This is where I found out that this was Lily II we were talking about. He did bring home another Lily that night, though, and I'm happy to say that Lily III is tougher than Lily I AND Lily II combined!

So, it's "Bring your pet to school" day today. Naomi, bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed, awoke by 7am. I was in the shower, so Naomi took the liberty of getting Darby out of bed at 7:02. By 7:25, five minutes before I usually wake everyone up, everyone was dressed, ready, and downstairs breaking bowls. I, however, was upstairs cleaning Lily's fishtank. By 7:48 we had a clean fishtank, 3 kids ready for school, and a broken bowl in the trash. I drained a little bit of water from the bowl, wrapped Lily's bowl in a towel, and buckled in. By that, I mean that I had Lily wrapped in a towel and buckled into MY seatbelt with me. Despite the "clean" tank, I gagged because now the fish smell was RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE. So, I carefully departed. About 1/2 mile later, I hit a bump and the bowl tilted ever-so-slightly and poured water right down the front of my shirt. Thankfully, Lily III is a smarty fish. She was safe in the bowl. We arrive at preschool, fish in tact. Now, I carefully carried Darby in one arm and a FISHBOWL in the other as other, smarter, parents breezed into school with their dogs and geckos easily in tote. Lest you forget that I just spilled half a fishbowl's worth of water down the front of my newly perfumed shirt, I will remind you that these (smarter) parents were...NOT...WET. Lily the Third made it to and from school today, and unless she dies later of sea sickness from transport, our dynamic relationship with Lily the Third continues!