Bubbles...May You Find Happiness in Your New Home

I've tapped on the glass, checked the fishes vitals and...Bubbles is dead.  He is whiter than I remember, upside-down (he's ALWAYS upside down), and NOTHING is moving.  He is most definitely deceased.  Before I go into my life with Bubbles, let me explain a little bit about myself.  I am not a pet person.  I grew up on a ranch surrounded by animals, but I was never interested in having one of my own.  Then...I came home with an orphaned puppy.  Mind you, he was an outdoor orphan puppy, but he was as sweet as can be and he LOVED our family.  Unfortunately, my children refused to enter our backyard all summer because "Rocky" was out there and he would jump on them and lick them and chase them.  I felt horrible for poor Rocky and he was then adopted by our next door neighbor who had dogs that Rocky had already formed friendships with through the fence that adjoined our yards.  So, we were NEVER going to have a pet again.  I had tried.  We had failed.  Then Todd came home from school.  Their class fish were looking for homes since the school year was ending.  I couldn't say, "No."  What is wrong with me?!!  I have a serious phobia of fish.  I will not swim in lakes and rivers because fish reside in there.  I tried swimming at my neighbors lake for excercise and saw fish (mind you, that lake is FULL of them) and I just couldn't do it any longer.  I would try willing myself into it, but just couldn't.  At family reunions, I live in agony, fearing my brothers will tip my boat or tube into the murky, fish invested waters.  They must have sensed that fear, because it hasn't happened yet.  Back to Bubbles.  I don't like fish....but then there's Bubbles.  Bubbles is funny.  When he first moved in, he had a serious case of ADD-with hyperactivity.  He'd zoom from one wall of his tiny fish tank, quickly to the other side.  I used to watch him for long periods of time, fasinated by his energy.  That slowly changed.  I think I've been watching him die for a while now.  The upside down swimming was becoming more and more frequent.  This past week, I was hoping his pain would end soon, because I'm pretty sure that a fish swimming upside down is not normal.  Some time between last night and this morning when I went to feed him, Bubbles did die.  I am pretty sure he's in a much bigger lake now where the fish are all big and friendly and there's plenty of agua to feed off of.  I cried this morning.  Not just tears, but I cried.  I cried over a stinking fish.  I cried over Bubbles.