First Pets

Growing up, my brother and I never had any pets. Which is really annoying because all the security questions ask you "what's the name of your first pet?" N/A and thanks for the reminder! We begged my mother for years, for a dog. The answer was always "no." One time, we went to an Easter fair when I was around 11 years old, and we bought a couple of birds - after much begging. I can still picture them distinctly in my head; one blue and one yellow fluttering in a small cage in our balcony. My then 6-year-old brother set them "free" the very next day because he didn't like seeing them caged up. Thanks bro.

We both vowed we'd get dogs once we were grown-ups and had our own space. And that, well, it never happened.

Now, I've got three kids of my own, and the dog-question has been asked repeatedly, since my oldest was 5 years old. Not so surprisingly, my answer has been "no" up until her 8th birthday. I mean, I get my mom now. Animals are messy and they smell - all you gotta do to figure that one out is pay a visit to a farm or zoo. Actually, a pet store would do the trick just fine. A little research online will tell you that there's so much that goes into taking care of even the smallest of pets, and really no mom wants to add more to her platter.

And yet, here I am, succumbing to my kids' requests for a pet.

We started off with the most basic.

A beta fish.

It died.

Another fish.

It died again.

A third fish. It survived and we passed it on to a friend when we graduated to the next pet.

A hamster.

It died within a week. Pet shop said it had a disease and replaced it.

A second hamster.

It died again. This time after 3 weeks. No one knows why. It's buried in our backyard.

A turtle.

She was a survivor. Yes, was. Lived in an artificial pond in our backyard for over 6 months...until snake season arrived. Found her shell licked clean.

A couple of birds. Parakeets.

Female killed the male within 2 weeks.

Seriously.

She did fine on her own. Till someone accidentally left the gate open.

She was never seen again.

Time for a dog yet?