the New Fish Tank

April 2004

I asked my friends to help me remember any unlikely coincidences, and was reminded of this one from the Spring of 2004:

One day my girlfriend Jacque set up a 10 gallon fish tank in her room.

I was immediately inspired and decided that it was time I got a tank, since I’d wanted one since I was a kid. I knew nothing about fishkeeping, but we set off for the obscure pet store that Jacque knew of way up in Forest Lake (about 45 minutes north of the Twin Cities). I had an idea I’d get a 20 or 30 gallon tank – but when we got to the store I quickly let the guy upsell me to a huge 75 gallon tank with a natural pine stand.

Unlike me, I did not do any comparison shopping or seek out a used one, even though it was an expensive purchase  – nor did I even think about the cost, really – and I had only a vague idea where it might fit into my small house.

More problematically, I also didn’t think about how the hell I was going to get the tank home – when the employees brought it out back, it was immediately obvious that it would never, ever fit into either the backseat or the trunk of my old Volvo.

However, I didn’t have to worry for more than a moment, because our friends Matt & Mandy coincidentally showed up in his cargo van just in time – at the pet store an hour away from their house.

So the fishtank came home effortlessly (and it fit perfectly in the living room when we arrived).

fish tank in 2004

(note: years later, Jacque was my ex and Matt was Mandy’s, and Mandy moved in with me and the fishtank)

synchronicity

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