When I was 9, me and my friends at the time went to a carnival. That place was pretty cool, I mean like they had huge inflatable slides and lots of games and rides and it was just a good time. But I saw this one game. All you had to do is throw a ball into one of their small little buckets which I thought looked pretty hard. So you know me I like challenges, so I  asked my mom for money and I got to play. Then the man running the game said “You have three chances to throw the ball into one of those small buckets, and if you win you get a goldfish of your choice.” I thought that was pretty cool, so on my third throw I finally made it after missing two throws. So he then said to me “Good job you won! Now pick any goldfish you want.” I was thinking that they couldn't really give goldfishes out at a carnival right, well sure enough he brought me to a tank of goldfish.

During this time I was looking at every fish very closely and it probably took me more than 3 minutes to decide. Then I finally made my decision and decided to get the fish that had a big black stripe on his back unlike all the other fish. So the guy got the fish in a bag with water and gave it to me. When he gave it to me I thought the fish was so cool and fascinating, and I was so gentle holding him trying not to shake him or doing anything to affect him, as all of my friends already had one and were being really clumsy and aggressive with theirs like they wouldn’t care if it died. For the rest of the night I didn't ride any more rides or slides or anything because I didn't want to hurt him at all.

Finally we got home and we found a clear cup for him to use overnight, as our plan was to get food and a new tank for him in the morning. So by that time I finally got a name for him, so I named him Joey. I know, pretty difficult of a name to come up with. We then got to the store and got the tank and food. I then got a little Spongebob’s house for him because I thought he needed a home, along with Spongebob and Patrick. He seemed very happy, and this is when me and joey began our journey together.

I thought of joey as one of my best friends because every time I would come downstairs in the morning I always thought he looked happy when he saw me. Anyways, today was the day that I learned how much food to give him. They said at the store that I can only give him a pinch once a day and if it is anything more than a pinch, than he might overeat and possibly die. So you'd probably think that I was pretty careful when I fed him everyday. One thing that I should have learned how to do is clean his bowl. My mom would usually do that and I never really worried about it.

Sometimes if I would have a bad day at school or something I would come to see him in his bowl as happy as could be. That used to always make my day. Days and days went by with him being healthy as can be. Months then went by. But, one day something just kind of seemed off. That day just seemed like something was different or I was kind of expecting something bad to happen even though I didn't know what it was. I was just worried all day for no reason. Well, apparently my mom was supposed to go out with her friends to a bar or something I don’t remember but that’s not the point. So anyway my mom was out and my babysitter was supposed to change Joey’s water today while I was at a friends house, since my mom couldn’t do it. When I came back the bowl wasn’t there and I said “Where is Joey?” and she said “Down the toilet.”. My heart dropped and I got so angry and sad at the same time. I had him for 8 months. You are not supposed to have a goldfish live that long.

I then realised that Joey made my life happier even though he doesn’t understand anything he still did and I learned on that day that you really need to appreciate the things or people you love while you still have them because they aren’t going to be around forever.