Meet Oscar

Oscar is our (not so gold anymore) fish. He's (we're not even sure if it's a he, actually, but we always assumed) over FIVE years old now. Yes, we've had him since LP was 1, all the way back then. The goldfish is a lot older than our daughter.

Oscar is, without a doubt, the toughest little fish on the planet. We do not neglect him, per say, but I'm afraid we don't pay much attention to him, either. We feed him and change his water, altough probably not as frequently as we should. When we leave for a few days, he just stays put (someone comes and feeds him every couple of days when we leave for extended periods of time).

Until recently, when people asked the kids for the fishie's name, they would raise their shoulders. He didn't really have one. Then, LP decided on Oscar.

Real-life Oscar is my grandmother's 87 year-old boyfriend. He came for a visit last June and really enjoyed it (he said he could "sit outside and watch people hit the ball all day"). Oscar is also tough, a true survivor, with a wonderful mischevious spirit. I guess he's also one of the oldest people we know -hence the connection LP made.

At our family's Christmas party, I happily told Oscar the kids had named their pet fish after him. My sister and I, but fortunately not Oscar, whose hearing is probably not what it used to be, then caught LP blurt out, totally innocently and full of good intentions: "That's because, just like you, he has lived for too long!"