Life and Love, Giggles and Tears

    Revealing itself from behind a porous piece of coral a little goldfish swims freely within the depths of the tropical water. Close by, on shore, a little boy is playing in the sand, wondering how animals can breathe under water. As the little boy digs in the sand he finds a small pebble that has invaded his sand pile. For a moment the child wonders how the pebble has gotten to that very spot. Of course with a short attention span the boy quickly picks the pebble up and tosses it back into the waves for the watery depths. As the pebble is carried back towards open sea it encounters a goldfish. Now this pebble was an extraordinary pebble and the goldfish could not fathom as to why anyone would reject it. Carefully the goldfish guided its prized pebble to a tide pool where is would be safe from the constant waves.

    It wasn’t long before the little boy became bored with the sand and ventured over to the tide pools. After the boy poked a starfish and was pinched by a hermit crab he noticed a familiar pebble. Was that the very pebble that had infiltrated his sand pile? The boy bent down for a closer look only to realize the tiny goldfish hiding behind the pebble. The goldfish had never been so scared. What was that creature, how could it breathe out of the water? After an hour of straight staring the creature dropped some crumbs into the water. The goldfish slowly emerged, inspected, and then ate the crumbs, savoring the exotic flavor. Then suddenly the creature disappeared.

    Finally morning was here. All the little boy could think of was the little fish he had found the day before. Eagerly running to the tide pools the boy decided to take home his fish friend to keep as a pet. Out of nowhere the goldfish found himself following more crumbs into what seemed to be a clear cave. It was then lifted out of the water and the goldfish tilted out of the way of the incoming pebble. What was happening? Why was this friendly creature putting him in this place? The boy was so excited to have caught the little fish he raced to put the jar into his suitcase. He wouldn’t be forgetting to pack this treasure.

    After what seemed like ages the goldfish found himself and his pebble being poured into a glass bowl. The goldfish liked this new environment. His own pebble, water, and even flakes of food carefully dropped into the water once every day. The goldfish knew he would definitely be living longer here in this bowl without having to worry about the constant threats of the ocean despite his bowl being filled with the very same water. Now that the boy had finally given his goldfish a home he was ready to start that dreaded “What I did on Summer Vacation” assignment. He read the directions and realized he needed a colored drawing and then a few sentences explaining his experience in the picture. “I got my fish in the Caribbean on my vacation. He found my pebble I threw and then I found him. I brought him home with the pebble and some of his water.” Of course that was the easy part, now for the picture. He had to color the picture of his goldfish hiding behind the pebble in the tide pool. Only he quickly ran into a dilemma that halted his coloring. How could none of his crayons match the color of the water he saw in the Caribbean? What made the water so special? Why does it have its own color? “Mommy! I need a note for my teacher. Please tell her I can’t color the water because it has its own special color my crayons can match. Maybe that’s why everyone has to ‘go green’. To help save all the special colors that aren’t crayons.”

    An unlikely friendship between a little boy and a goldfish made possible by nature. Remember being eco-friendly will help save our planet, and all those special colors throughout the world’s divine nature. What can will you do?