PonyTales

I read somewhere once that parents are encouraged to let their kids keep pest pets. It is believe that kids are able to learn to care and nurture others by having pets, especially single child.

Well, in this series of posts, I would like to talk a little about all the pets that have seen me thru my crucial growing years (one at a time) 

When I was just a little girl, I always have a lot of compassion for little animals and I always asked my mom & dad whether I could keep them. Dad is always supportive of my nurturing ideas but mom is always a little anxious about the actual nurturing that will happen later when the pet comes to stay with us. Mom gave in to my request sometimes and there I was, having a blast of time with the collection of pets that I adopted (one at a time) that can easily form a mini zoo in my house.

I remember my first pet was a pair of gold fish my mom bought for me in the morning market. I follow my mom to the morning market quite often and there was an uncle there that sells aquarium fish in basins. I love to stand there and watch the fish while my mom go on to do her marketing. I think due to my persistance in observing the fishes, my mom took pity of my compassionate nature and finally bought me a pair of gold fish in a small plastic aquarium that I can carry everywhere I go. I was on cloud 9 when my mom hand me the fish in the mini aquarium. I made little promises to the fish and my mom that I would do all I could to take care of them and make both of them fat fat and shiny shiny!

My mom also bought some fish food for me to feed them and I was faithfully feeding the fish every morning - changing the water every 2 days and adding anti-clorine to the water. The routine lasted almost 2 weeks and I woke up one morning and saw both my precious gold fish sleeping on their back, tummy bloated and facing up. I asked my mom why the fish sleep late today and did not wake up to eat breakfast? My mom came over, saw what happen and told me the fish is dead. I cried and cried. This is the first time I felt the lost of something dear to me. I prepared a little funeral for my pet goldfish attended by a teddy bear, barbie & kent and buried them under the soil in the biggest flower pot in the house. So, the next day I follow my mom to the wet market again - in search of another pet companion that would nurse my grief and occupy the vacant little plastic aquarium…and I found…"balitong!"

…to be continued