Rafa made a hard and sad decision this week. He decided to sell the livestock in the fish tank and shut it off. Within two days, he received a generous offer from a self-described “coral fanatic” to purchase everything. He came over tonight and they took it all down.

We were all really sad to see everyone go. Before Giana went to bed, we all hung out to say goodbye. Giana said “fish” and “wow” several times. Then, she surprised us when she pointed and said “O.J.” and we all shed a few tears. Even though she loves her fish (or “psssshh”), Rafa just felt like he couldn’t devote the time needed for maintenance. And when choosing who to spend time with, Rafa said he will always choose his girls over fish…or any other hobby, for that matter.

As O.J. and Tanji prepared to go to their new home in a plastic bag and Rafa worked on scooping out 100+ pounds of wet sand, we tried to get used to the new silence in our living. No filter, no pumps and no soft gurgle of water moving – our house was quiet. Suddenly, Rafa looked at me.

“You know how I like to see the face of God in everything?” he asked. I didn’t know where he was going with this. “Yes?” I said expectantly. He held up the electric cord that looked like it had started burning.

So today was the ending (for now) of a hobby, the start of less guilt for Rafa because he doesn’t have time to take care of the tank, and filled with thankfulness that a fire hazard was eliminated from our home.