Large Fish Tank

by Caryn Cole
 
 

The other day my daughter rushed into the kitchen to find me. She was very excited because the UPS truck had pulled into our yard. This was the day before her birthday so she assumed my brother had sent a present. I went to the door and signed for the very large box that the driver set on our front steps. It was addressed to my daughter and when we looked inside the packaging we could see that it was gift wrapped. My brother called that evening, when he knew that my daughter would be in bed and asked if the large fish tank had arrived. I had not let my daughter open the package because I wanted her to wait until the day of her birthday. A large fish tank, what was he thinking! We had fish when we were growing up and I remember what a chore it was for my mom to keep it looking nice and clean. Now I was the mom and I knew the task would fall to me.

When I got off the telephone with my brother I told my husband that there was a large fish tank in the box. He was so excited he wanted to wake up my daughter so he could see it right away.

 

His family had a large fish tank when he was growing up and he loved watching the fish. I shared my concern about keeping the large fish tank clean, but he promised that he would help and that he thought this would teach our daughter responsibility to have her help also. He said this could be a family project. He knows that I like doing things together as a family so he used this to convince me that the large fish tank should be set up in the living room.

He was so excited about the large fish tank that he started doing research on different types of fish to put in it and where to buy supplies. He was measuring the box as well as various areas in the living room so that the large fish tank could get set up as soon as my daughter opened it the next day.

The next day we followed the tradition that one gift could be opened at the breakfast table. My daughter of course wanted to open the box from my brother. She pulled the wrapping off and I saw the look of disappointment on her face. "It is a large fish tank" is all she said, and then she grabbed her coat and books and headed out the door to catch the school bus. I was glad that my brother was not there to see the lack of enthusiasm on her part. We do have the large fish tank set up in the living room, but it is always referred to as my husband’s tank and he has filled it with all sorts of exotic fish.