Way down in the deep blues of the warm, tropical portions of the Atlantic Ocean live French Angelfish. These fish are beautiful; a blue and black hue with specs of yellow all along their sides. They spend their days swimming along reefs near Florida, the Bahamas and on into the Gulf of Mexico. One of the most beautiful fish, and yet so dumb. Fish are dumb. Some fish only have 8 seconds of lasting memory. So, how can something so pretty be so stupid? I asked myself that very question after my last relationship. And I wasn't referring to the guy.
Humans aren't that romantic. Not any that aren't drawn up by Disney, anyway. I can look at the Angelfish, that stupid, stupid Angelfish and find more things beautiful about them than most people I've met. Angelfish mate for life. They can find one, special fish, who happens to look like all the other fish in the reef, spend every day of their lives with them, hunt for food, and travel the waters together. These "stupid" fish happen to be living the life I want. Who wouldn't want a life in the tropics? Maybe a cooler of Corona's at my side and being with someone I actually want to see on a daily basis. The next man that comes along that actually convinces me I need to see him everyday and talk with him and swim around the reefs with him and hunt for smaller fish to eat, that's the man that will convince me that maybe I'm not just another pretty, but stupid fish in the ocean.
If I ever meet the person that came up with the saying, "plenty of fish in the sea" I might slap him. Not only did my dad say that to me when I was crying in my bed after my 4th grade boyfriend broke my heart, but I also just hate the saying. I don't just think of myself as an ordinary pet goldfish or a trout or salmon on the grill with a slice of lemon. No. Not me. I am an Angelfish. And Angelfish don't mess around. Literally. They don't date around. They find their mate, stay by their side, and even after their spouse dies, they don't move on and date another fish. They swim the waters alone, fully aware that what they had with that one other fish was something special.
What I don't understand about the Angelfish is how they find their fish-mate. Is it a scent? Is it the way they chew their food? Maybe the curves of their dorsal fin? Or maybe it's the way their gills move when they breathe? I have absolutely no idea. And this haunts me in everyday life. Not the Angelfish part, but the how to find a mate part. Now, I can listen to Diana Ross and my mom over and over and no matter how much someone tells me I "can't hurry love, no you just have to wait!" it's not going to matter. You can't tell a girl raised on imagination and Disney movies that nobody's going to save her from distress for awhile.
But as anxious as I am to meet someone and have everything my parents have, my sisters have, my grandparents have; I'm doing pretty well by myself. And maybe that's how you find your Angelfish. You have to have your fish in a row, so to speak. Have your life together, your bad experiences behind you, lessons learned, and that's when you can welcome someone special into your life. Then maybe, you won't just be another fish in the sea, but you'll be a fish that knows exactly what they want...you'll be an Angelfish.
Other animals that mate for life? Gibbons, Termites, Swans, Black Vultures, Wolves, Albatrosses, Doves, and Schistosoma Mansoni Worms.
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