This is a list of all of the pets I've owned.

My very first pet was a fish. I was about 4 or 5 when he first entered the family, and he stayed in a glass vase above the TV. The fish was blue and red with a long, feathery tail. I had a twin sister, and at the time we both wanted to choose a name for our new pet. She wanted Blueberry and I wanted Strawberry, so a good compromise of course was BlueberryStrawberryHead.

A few years later, after desperate convincing to our parents that we needed a more substantial pet as part of the family, our father brought home a kitten from the shelter. She was half siamese and half something else, I don't know any other kinds of cat. But I always used to brag that my cat was half-Siamese, as if it was the cool thing to have a half-Siamese cat. Anyways, this one's name was Princess Sophia. And of course that came as a compromise between my sister wanting to name it Sophia and me wanting to name her Princess.

Next, after many long years with our beloved cat, we decided that we wanted more. The logical solution was guinea pigs! Abby and I each got our own little guinea pigs. Mine was white with brown spots and hers was white with tan spots. Now that we each had our own, there weren't any more mashup names! Abby named hers Angelena, and I chose to name mine Princess Porkchop. Angelena died about a year later, but Princess Porkchop lived a long, healthy life.

Next came the hermit crabs. The horrible hermit crabs. Of course 12 year old us thought they were a great idea to buy at the beach. These guys were not only stinky and gross, but they climbed in and out of their shells and loved to find new ways to escape their cages and explore the house, then get lost and start withering and leave little legs in random corners, then eventually die in disgusting places. Never again.

In and out for the next few years were pets that our little sister would petsit, including (but not limited to) snakes(!), dogs, lizards, hamsters, and fish.

Then came the fishtank. Our little sister was about 7 when she discovered her passion and love for fish, so she got a fishtank full of about 5 different kinds of fish. These little guys are fun to look at, but a lot more work than one would think. Most have died and been replaced multiple times over the years, and the current cycle is living out their happy little lives in our foyer.

Finally came the beloved Prince. Prince is our 1-yr-old golden retriever puppy who we adore and give excessive attention to. He is our greatest pet we've ever had and I miss him a lot right now.

These are all of the pets my family has ever had, a diverse group of animals. I didn't realize that we've gone through so many until I just wrote it down. Pets add so much happiness and well-being to our lives, and I don't think they always get the appreciation they deserve. I hope you enjoyed reading about all of my pets.