My Cousin Janet

Sibling Rivalry

Starting Over

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Several years ago my son, my husband, and I dug a pond in our backyard on the site of our no-longer-used trampoline. The circular area had no grass and was in an area that received sun for most of the day. The project was ongoing for several years. B started the excavation and chopped out old tree roots that crisscrossed the area. One summer my daughter C and her friends camped out by the site and my husband built a bonfire, which could have easily consumed our house, in the soon-to-be pond. Over a two to three year period the project progressed and eventually a round pond approximately 18 feet across and 3.5 feet deep at its lowest level with a waterfall and stream was created.

The first year we stocked the pond with a few fish. We purchased two 3 to 4 inch koi at a local pond store and named them Keiko and Hot Lips. We also purchased a few comets and shubunkins. Over the next few years the Koi grew, the comets and shubunkins reproduced, and we added more small koi that we purchased at The Pond Store and at the Louisville Koi and Goldfish Club's annual Koi show and fish auction. We were lucky. Our pond had few casualties and the fish were healthy. Unfortunately, we failed to heed the axiom "expect the unexpected". One hot summer day when the temperature reached 101 degrees and my husband was out of town, my son B forgot the hose in the pond. When our youngest dog came into the house with wet feet, my investigation led to the pond which had overflowed its banks. Fish were floating everywhere. In our panic we failed to recognize that it wasn't the heat that was killing the fish, but the chlorine from the newly added water. Over a 24 hour period we lost 11 of our 13 koi and over 100 comets and shubunkins. As my son B buried the fish in a mass grave in our garden, he measured Hot Lips who had grown to 22 inches.

For the next two years I lost interest in the pond. It was painful to look at the two koi and the few comets that had survived the holocaust. I no longer took joy in daily feedings and I had no desire to watch the fish which had previously enthralled me for hours. When I worked in the garden I missed hearing the smacking sound that one of the fish used to make as he ate algae. As time passed and the ache lessened, we slowly restocked the pond. This Memorial Day weekend we attended the koi show and purchased four small koi: Jin, Sun, Akage-ru and Migoto. The pond now has 14 Koi, including the two survivors Noname and Sashimi, one shubunkin and many comets. Although I feed the fish every day and spend time watching them as they glide in the tranquility of the pond, it will never have the same attraction for me. In the back of my mind I can't help thinking of all that we lost one hot summer day and all that are buried in my garden.

"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next." ~Gilda Radner ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~