Around the beginning of the summer our son came up to me and asked if he could have “a pish”. I said, “a what?” and he replied “a pish” while showing me the sign for fish. We spent the next few minutes discussing the logistics of his request. He had all the answers… he even had a shelf picked out in his closet where he could keep it away from the cats.
As good as his 5 year old logic was, the request was denied… simply because we had NO room. We were currently living in an oh-so-cozy rental house while we were waiting on our house to be completed. We had originally planned on being in the rental about 3 months – it had now been almost 5. We had 6 people, 2 cats, and 1 dog in a 1400 sq ft house. We didn’t have a dining room table big enough for all of us, much less enough seats for us to all be together in the living room. I was at my limit of “stuff” and we were NOT adding one.more.thing.
Fast forward to December. We had been in the new house for a few months and were getting somewhat settled, so we decided to surprise him with a fish for his birthday. We all jumped in the car and drove an hour away to the nearest pet store. When we walked in, we headed straight to the fish department. We looked at all sorts of fish – he finally decided on an orange fish and a white fish. The young girl working there scooped up the two fish and handed the bag to my husband. Meanwhile, the rest of us were busy searching for the perfect bowl, rocks, and decorations.
I was so excited for my little boy – he was getting his own pet – something he had been waiting for patiently… It was a beautiful moment.
And then my husband had the talk with him…
In the middle of the aisle…
As he is holding the bag of fish and I am holding all the accessories. My husband says (oh so loudly), “you realize the pish are gonna die”
WHAT?!?!?!
I was mortified and just waiting for the tears to flow. But, surprisingly, they didn’t. Our little boy looked confused, and was intently studying our faces, but he wasn’t crying… this could be ok. My husband went on to explain that we will buy him more fish if/when these guys die – but to be prepared that they won’t last too long.
I tried to walk away and pretend I didn’t know them, but I was holding the chosen aquarium and rocks… and my son had a death grip on my leg. It was at this time our youngest child was asking (in her always FULL volume voice), “WHY is the pish gonna die?”
OH. MY. GRAVY.
In the middle of the fish aisle…
In a not so quiet voice…
ON his 6th birthday…
My son got his first explanation on the life expectancy of a fish.
When I think about “the pish is gonna die”, I am reminded that God puts people in our lives who will speak the truth to us when we need to hear it. (Not always when we want to hear it.) Instead of being horrified, like I was, we should be grateful that someone cares enough to have the hard conversations with us. May I be reminded of that whenever I find myself with the opportunity to speak some hard truth to someone around me.
As mommas, and especially as homeschooling mommas, we have ample opportunities to speak truth into the lives of our children. Whether it’s a simple truth about stripes and polka dots not going well together, or a harder truth about a poor choice in a relationship, we HAVE to speak the truth to them.
Just maybe not in the middle of the fish aisle at the pet store. 😉