If I haven’t mentioned before, I am second counselor in the Young Women’s program in our ward. This means that I am over the 12 and 13 year old young women in our ward. We had an end of summer BBQ with all the youth in our ward ages 12-18 (boys and girls). The young women were in charge, so we had to think up some games. I remembered when I was little, an activity my parents had in our backyard that involved some goldfish. After the activity, Christina and I got to keep like a hundred goldfish in one little bowl. Every morning, we would fish out the dead ones, until we were left with one. And he lived a really long time.

So, I couldn’t remember all the details of the game, so I made up my own. First stop, we bought 75 goldfish. Jameson was extremely excited. I told him, he could have one. So, I bought a half gallon bowl and some food to go along with the 75 fish. The man getting the fish, looked at me and asked what they were for. I somewhat lied, and told him they were going to be used as prizes. I just left out the part that they would go through some very traumatic events in the process. Then he looked at my bowl and told me that goldfish need about 2 gallons water for every inch long they are. I told him I had a big tub for the other goldfish, and I wasn’t planning on them surviving long. I mean, they were feeder fish anyway. They were meant to die, right?

So when we got home, one goldfish got his own bowl, while the others all swam together. I asked Jameson what his goldfish should be named, and he replied, “Spike.” It might have had something to do with his hair at the moment.

As hard as we tried, the fish started dying on us. By the end of the day, we had two goners already.

By our Tuesday night activity, there were 12 that were floating. Luckily, we discussed how in Finding Nemo, the drains lead to the ocean, and the fish want to go down them to escape. So, we dumped 12 goldfish in the toilet, Jameson yelled, “Bye bye fish! You’re going to the ocean!” and then we flushed them. There were a few more that died on the way over to the house the activity was at. Oops.

So, on to the game. I filled the baby pool up and dumped the goldfish in. I had the kids line up in two lines between a 5 gallon bucket and the baby pool. The person nearest the bucket was given a gallon milk jug. They had to run to the baby pool, get as many fish in their jug as possible, then pass it down their team line. That person then took their place in line as the jug was passed on. The next person on the end (now near the 5 gallon bucket) dumped the jug and fish in to the bucket, and the process started all over again. The first team to make it through their line twice, ended the game.

I had taken Jameson with me, because, well, how could I not? Then, I noticed that he was getting the fish for the kids. They were cheating! And using my child to help them win. He would fish out the fish 🙂 and then hand them put them in their jug for them.

In the end, I think the score was 28 fish to 18 fish. By the end of the night, I think there were only about 20 fish still swimming, and I sent them home with someone else. The kids all participated, though, so that made the goldfish totally worth it.