Life has been so busy recently. Grades and report cards, parent-teacher conferences, the start of my FINAL grad class. SO busy in fact that I haven't been able to report that....Wendell has passed away. Amanda and I came in one Monday about a month and a half ago, I sat at my desk, and gasped. Poor Wendell had finally gone belly up. In reality it was best for him. He had been looking pretty raggid and I was afraid that he was suffering. He had obviously died not long after we left Friday afternoon so he was looking pretty gross. Amanda gagged (which was pretty funny) and we took him off to the bathroom.
We decided not to tell the kids until someone asked where he was. That moment came at snack time. One of our more sensitive kiddos (who just so happens to sit in front of my desk) asked where Wendell was. I didn't want to say "Wendell died." It just sounded too harsh to tell little kids, so I tried to soften the blow by saying that "Wendell passed on." Unfortunately for me no one understood what that meant and I just had to tell them he died anyway. Then they asked where he was and I told them that we gave him a "burial at sea." Amanda and I died laughing, but again no one understood that either so we told them that fish get flushed down the toilet when they die. Long story short...the kiddos were upset (although some were more upset about the fact that I wasn't going to buy a replacement Wendell this year).
Some of the students made me sympathy cards about how sad they were that Wendell had died. Just now, as I sit here typing this, one boy that sits right in front of my desk turned to me and said "Miss L., I wish Wendell was still alive." To which I responded "I know (insert student's name here), me too."Wendell was probably the most loved fish there ever was. He will be greatly missed. To commemorate his passing Amanda made the following hysterical comic:
