Goodbye Bluey

Last week I had a disturbing dream about our Beta fish Bluey. In my dream, he was out of his bowl I was trying to get him into some safe water and he was squirming around all over the place. I couldn't find water that had been treated, so I hurried and put some drops in some water and put Bluey in it. He started freaking out and I realized I was supposed to wait 30 minutes for the drops to de-chlorinate the water before I put him in. Well, I woke up and was relieved it was only a dream. Then this morning I noticed how dirty Bluey's bowl was, so I put him in a smaller bowl and rinsed and cleaned his bowl. I put the drops in and set both bowls on the kitchen counter. I planned on coming back to put Bluey back in his bowl after 30 minutes. I went about my day and it was lunch time, so I went to the kitchen to fix lunch. I peeked in the small bowl to check on Bluey and to my surprise he wasn't there!!!! I looked in his regular bowl, but he wasn't there either. So I was frantically looking on the counter, in the sink and then I saw him... He had jumped out of his bowl and landed on the kitchen rug. I started screaming (I'm still not sure why I reacted this way). I could see he had been out for several hours b/c he was sort of shriveled. I quickly plopped him back into the bowl to see if by some miracle he'd hit the water and be revived. But of course, he just floated there. I continued to scream and then I started crying. Lukas came to my aid and asked what was going on. I told him about Bluey and he said, "Well, maybe we can buy a new one." I called Pat hysterical and explained what happened. Lukas had climbed up on the kitchen counter at this point and stuck his finger in the water and Bluey moved. Probably just reflexes, but we both freaked out and started screaming! Poor Lukas. I am really tramatizing him! I got off the phone and ran to find Lukas (he jumped off the counter and ran away). He was fine, but I was balling like a baby! He looked at me and said, "Awww, Mom, it's okay. Don't be sad. C'mere." And the put his arms around me and told me we could buy a hamster or something. How crazy is this? I'm crying hysterically over a little fish and my 3 year-old son is comforting me! Whew. What a day. I just feel like I could've saved Bluey. If I transfered him to his water sooner, or noticed him sooner....there is always "what if", right? At this point I wonder if we can ever get a pet bigger than a fish b/c I do not want to deal with any more deaths. Bluey was a good little fish and was pretty to look at. Sorry that you jumped out of your water. I wish I could've saved you. We'll miss you Bluey!