It's broken...

Ian's heart, that is. On Monday morning his fish "Beta" died. He got the fish for Christmas in 2006. I had noticed that since the weather got cooler that he was looking droopy so I moved him upstairs. He didn't seem to get any better, and wasn't eating so I bought some medication to put in the water in case he was fighting some sort of infection. That was Sunday, and on Monday morning he was floating belly up. Poor Ian, I don't think any one realized how much he loved that fish! He cried big old tears when we found him. He wanted to help me flush him, and I watched his eyes well up again as he tried to fight back his tears. It was just genuine sadness, and it killed me! I thought he was doing okay, but last night, a good hour after he was in bed (I thought he was sleeping!), I heard him crying. When I went to investigate, his face was all teary as he explained to me how one of the songs at the end of his Magic Tree House book on cd reminded him of Beta and he really missed him. He was sobbing! I laid down and cuddled with him for a while, and he told me that the song was about how the two children in the book were saying goodbye to someone and were sad because they didn't want to leave. Ian told me he didn't want Beta to leave, and he didn't really get to say goodbye. His little heart is still aching, and there's nothing I can do to make it better.