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| So seven gods walk into a bar... |
I've been playing God recently and I've gotta tell you, that sh#t ain't easy.
What I'm talking about is AQUA DRAGONS. Nope, it's not some hip new indie band, they're actual real life aquatic creatures that were around in dinosaur times and are related to the crustacean family. Check them out here - also known as sea monkeys. You buy their eggs (which could be decades old and come sitting in a small packet off the shelf) from places like Australian Geographic, pop them in water, and hey presto just like Gremlins they come to life and start swimming around.
My sister's children were given them and she wasn't keen on the idea so I thought I'd give it a whirl. It seemed exciting, a bit morally questionable, but mysterious and exciting. The boys will love it! So we made a big song and dance about them, put the eggs in the tank with bottled water and waited.
After a day they hatched! We had successfully created life that without us may never have existed. I felt like Lisa Simpson with her mini universe. They could have just stayed eggs sitting in a packet, tossed in the bin and never to touch water and spring to life. The boys were pumped to see these minuscule things swimming around and helped out when it was time to feed them.
Good times! Good dragon times! That is until a few weeks later I suddenly noticed there were no more dragons cruising around. Were they sleeping? Where were they? Perhaps I had forgotten to feed them or let the water temperature drop. Damn it. The children wanted to see their dragons, and I knew they were lying on the bottom, tits up.
So the dragons got put up high on a shelf so I didn't have to deal with it. I just couldn't face getting rid of these magical creatures that I had failed as their creator. My husband couldn't either. It was so weird, we have a cat and are no strangers to animals moving on, but this was so different. We awakened these beings from a dormant state and brought them into the world. And then we stopped providing the essentials they needed to survive (ok maybe not we, it was me). We both felt so guilty though it was crazy. I bet my sister is glad now she gave them away.
Thankfully after a few months the boys stopped asking about them. Or so I thought until my youngest pointed up there the other day and said 'hatch!' with shining eyes.It was time. Time to stop ignoring the tiny prehistoric souls floating around in their watery grave while we went about our lives. So I poured them down the sink.
And then I went to the cupboard and got the extra packet of eggs. Ding ding! All gods please step up for Round Two!
Was I crazy? Yes, I think so. It's only been a week and heaps of them hatched initially but when I checked yesterday I could only see one of the blighters. I've even been taking it into heated rooms and putting a small towel around the container so the water temperature doesn't drop, but somehow I've failed yet again at this god stuff.
The only saving grace is I haven't told the boys about it again. I think I'll wait and see if old dragon balls makes it to week two. In the meantime though, perhaps Aqua Dragons should remain out of the shops. Being a god is HARD.
Ever played God? Ever successfully raised a colony of Aqua Dragons?!
Photo credit: South Park
