Nate's pal Sharky

On Nate’s birthday Nate’s Tia Bena got him the coolest present ever… his very own fish, tank, and everything that went a long with him. He’s been such a great pal for Nate to have. Today the intire day was filled with emotions, including bedtime. We had our normal bedtime ritual, except for when we got to the feeding Sharky part… I couldn’t find him, until I saw his beautiful long fins swaying in the water… under the pump. I rushed to handled it before Nate walked in, but I was caught, Nate rushed to my side and said “oh no, what’s wrong with Sharky?” I said he tried to fit where he couldn’t and now he’s not feeling well, cause he got hurt, but it’s ok. You can go tell your Dada, if you want. So he ran down stairs fine until he got to the bottom of the staircase where busted out in tears and panic “come on Dada, I need you. Something’s really wrong with Sharky.” So Andre came up and handled it so well. It broke our hearts to see Nate this heartbroken. And of course, I was even in tears (I didn't let N8 see me though). Andre explained to Nate that Sharky wanted to go where Nemo went to see Sharky’s family. So they went to get a cup to get Sharky out of the tank and Nate said “Sharky, I’m gonna miss you” (tears).

Sharky’s gone now, but we’ll be on our way to get 2 fish for Nate tomorrow.

Here's Andre's prospective:

I was getting ready for bed and I heard a little whimper at the door. The door opened really slowly and Nate had one hand over his eyes and tears were dripping down his arm. I asked, “what’s the matter?” He said that he needed me. Why, I asked. He said, “because something is wrong with Sharky and you need to help fix him. You need to help him NOW. Come on.” He ran as fast as he could up the stairs saying, “I need you dada, hurry!!!” I knew what happened so I was thinking on how to handle it. When I got to his room Jenna was standing by the door really sad. I looked at Nate’s face and he said, “look at Sharky!” A glimmer of hope twinkled in his eyes. I looked at Sharky and he was dead. Poor thing. I looked back at Nate and he said that I needed to fix him. I said, I couldn’t. “Well then we need to take him to the doctor,” he said. They (Jenna, Lana, and Nate) visited his Aunt Stephanie at the hospital earlier that day because she had surgery to fix her back. Nate knew that if they could fix Aunt Stephanie’s broken back that they could fix Sharky too. I told him that that wasn’t what Sharky wanted. I pretended to listen to Sharky…”Oh, Sharky said that he misses his family very much and that he wants to go see them.” “How, Where…where is his family” Nate asked. I said, “in the big ocean remember? Like on ‘Finding Nemo’?” “Oh yes,” he said. I pulled him out w/ a cup and we sent him down the toilet. Nate didn’t understand why we put him down the toilet. I told him that just like in “Finding Nemo” all the pipes and water go to the ocean. He said, “Okay”…He looked at Sharky and told him with a really soft, trembling voice…”I’ll miss you Sharky.” He wanted to see him all they way down the toilet. He didn’t want to take his eyes off of him and kept telling him that he would miss him. My little boy is starting to understand what is pretend and what is reality. He knew he would never see Sharky again. He had faith that I could fix him. A small hope that Sharky would be okay. Death is never easy. We make all sorts of stories and alternate worlds that help us cope with it. The reality is a sad one, but it’s reality. He will experience a lot more death during his time and I hope that I will be there to help him learn how to cope with it. One day, I will be gone and by then I hope that I have taught him enough little tricks to continue a stable life.