Remembrance and Reflection how Allied

My Dearest Petey,

My heart is broken tonight as I sit here without you. When I came home this evening I found your lifeless body at the bottom of your home. I ran over to you, hoping against hope, that your spirit had not left the shell of your body. But it had, as told by the stiffness in that shell I had come to so love.

You were my angel-boy, a seraph who had come into my life for the briefest of visits. This morning you didn't look like you were feeling well. I promised to call the vet if you still didn't look too perky tonight, never suspecting that you could slip away so quickly. I had a board meeting--I absolutely could not miss it. I should have called J to ask him to take you to the vet. I am so sorry my love. I will never forgive myself.

As I held you close to my chest this morning, kissing your precious little forehead, and keeping you against my heart, I thought of how happy you have become here. I thought, with a touch of humility, of how very much you trust me, how you seem to love me too. Last month you learned to fly from the top of the patio shed. You were so very proud when you took that first leap off of the scary-high spot. You landed on my hand, bursting with joy, and you spread your wings and bobbed. I kissed you and hugged you, so very proud, too. (Then you climbed back up and we did this ten more times!)

Last week we started practicing how to wave. I felt a touch of humility then, too, as you let me touch your wing, and, saying "Wave!" you would lift it ever so slightly. Then you dived into my chest for kisses and cuddles. Yes, my little love, it took courage, and I was so humbled to have earned such trust. All this week we practiced "Jump!" with a wave when you landed--and you did so well.

Thank you for your trust, for your love, for your cuddles. I remember when we first brought you home I couldn't hold you for ten seconds! And now you rode around my shoulder, observing all I do, an extension of my heart.

I know your spirit is free in that endless sky, where you fly unhindered by fear or the scars of abuse. I know we will meet again soon, and look forward to seeing your beautiful eyes and kissing your sweet forehead.

Much love,

Me

PS--please keep an eye on your little sister, Soph. I'm not sure I'd survive losing both of you.

Athie can fly. He's very proud of this fact. And, at two years old, he has landing down to a science. (Finally!)

This morning I put all of my Mob Squad Three on the patio--and placed Athie on his customary Perch Where Petey Can't Get Him. Feeling pretty confident he flew over to a hanging planter. Petey ran over to climb up the patio swing and jump on the planter. Athie, startled, flew in the open door and landed next to me. He looked up at me and said, "GEEZE!"

LOLOL!!!! Like, "Can't a guy get a break?!"

This morning I wanted to try to get a picture of Sophia lying on her back, in my hands--black background, black shirt. All you'd see was hands and bird.

Sophia wasn't terribly cooperative, so I finally gave up. Here's one of my "outtakes" -- she kept jumping up for kisses and cuddles instead (which I was only too happy to oblige!)!

Sophia is precious. My little bugaboo girl. She is three now, and really "coming into her own." My being gone during the day has forced her to play more independently.

It's so funny now, she's very, very interested in her environment. It used to be she was only interested in OMG BEING ON MOMMY OMG but now if there are any changes to an area she is in a lot, she'll forego OMG BEING ON MOMMY to go check out what the changes are.

A few weekends ago I sprayed down the patio and rearranged some of it. I did this in the early morning, but since I was using bleach on the cement, I kept the fids inside. Not wanting to wake them up yet, I also kept the curtains closed.

When I got them up a little while later, she jumped onto my shoulder and then hopped over to the playstand, scurried up the curtains, up to the curtain rod, and raced over to the window where she promptly ducked down, little feather butt up, to see what had been done to her patio. She looked and looked and looked. It was really adorable!

She still claims ownership to the big cage that now belongs to Athie (was Petey's). Yesterday we played musical cages since Athie was in Petey's cage, I put Petey in Sophie's cage and Sophie in Athie's cage. Later when I switched them all back she had to run over to "her cage" to check out what had been done. LOL

It's kind of cool to see her acknowledge her environment and be curious as to what is happening in it. Kind of reminds me of the little girl from Animaniacs: "Whatcha doin'? ... Why?...Why? .... Why? ... OK I love you buh-bye!!!"

Another kind of cool thing is that I always try to encourage her not to be "clingy" and to play on her own. Now when I'm on the patio she has her favorite spots to play and hang out, and she'll hop off of me to go to them.

I love my little bugaboo. :) She's still such a cuddle bug and adorable Mommy's girl!

*Athie's acting like a little feathered monster and won't let J eat. I'm going to take him back to the bird room while we finish lunch*

Me: "Are you annoying Daddy again?"
Athie: "No...."

Me: "Step up."
Athie: "Ok"
*steps up*
Athie: "Hey! What's up?"

In law there is this concept of "proximate cause" where if you try to sue for damages the action in question that supposedly caused your damages has to have been proximate--the direct cause.

Proximate cause has nothing to do with this story except that I keep thinking "proximate mom" pretty frequently. Whenever Sophia is playing on the ground, like a baby who raises her arms in expectation that Mom will pick her up, Sophia, half preoccupied with a bead or button, raises her foot. It's like an automatic response to some Mom radar. "Mom's within five feet. She's going to pick me up." *raises foot still playing with her toy* And if I go outside of Soph's Mom Radar, she puts her foot back down. And if come back within that zone, her foot goes back up. Totally cracks me up.

Sophia's other method of "step up" is more of a jump. She doesn't really step onto my hand--ever--she leaps, lands, bounces, and then leaps onto my shoulder, like my hand was a stepping stone in a stream, and my shoulder, naturally, is the destination. Then she leans in for the inevitable kiss, and places her beak against my cheek for head scratches and more kisses.

J got me a super-duper new lens b/c my other 2 weren't clear enough. I think this does the job on the clarity level. ;)

Here are a bunch of pics I've taken with it! 

The Future is Bright with Possibility (Mom calls it "African Grey looking at Mars.")

 

OMG. Athie is totally cracking me up this morning. He's speaking the entire conversation the fids, James, and I have on a regular basis, including Petey's responses and sound effects!!

*kiss* = kissy sound
Kiss="Kiss!"
*rha* = the Goffin whine/cry when they want something. (Usually Petey is undecided whether he wants to come to me

Here's the general string of what he's saying...

Yaaaay! Good girl! *kiss!* Where ya goin? Whatcha doin? *whistle* Are you Momma's good girl? Come on! Kiss! *kiss* Kiss!

Petey? Whatcha doin? Come here! Come on! It's ok! *rha* Step up! Come on! *rha* GOOOOOOD BOOOOOOOOOOOY! Up? Step up. Up. Step up. Nooo... Good girl!

Ok Petey night night time. Go to your cage! Go on!

Hi Petey. Jump! Jump! Step up! Up up! Good! Ohhhh there's a good boy *kiss* kiss* *kisskisskiss* Kiss? *kiss* Awwwwwwwwww such a good boy....! GOOD GIRL!!!! *kiss* Hang on Soph! Step up! Yayyyyy!!! Good boy!! Go to your cage! Go to your cage! *kiss* *kiss* Kiss? *kiss* Kiss? *kisskiss* Awwwww. Yaaaayyyy!!! Go to your cage!

Athie? Stop! No! Step up! Go to your cage! Goood boy!!! Gooood girl!! Good BOY!!!! Ath! Step up! Good boy! Go to your cage! Come on! Jump! Whoooo! Yay! Good boy!!! *muah* Good boy! *kiss* Kiss! *kiss* Kiss! KissKissKiss! *kisskisskiss*

Come on! Step up! Good! WOOHOO!!! Good boy!! There we go! You're a good boy!! I love you!! *kiss*

OK--time for me to go to the bird store for pics. He's so cute.

Yesterday we looked at a fish tank. The owner had a 2 year old son--it was like a human-shaped Athie!! He was sooo cute just jabbering and looking at everything with wonder. Very adorable, reminded us of a featherless CAG! LOL!!!

My first puppy pictures. :)   These are the Palm Cockatoo Owner's dogs.

 

As always, constructive criticism always appreciated :)

I wonder whether life is ever perfect enough. I have, I thought, everything I could have wanted. A sweet husband, a lovely little pet family, a meaningful job--and a bonus! Parrot pictures and a starting-to-boom business!

But nothing ever seems to be enough. Now I want one more thing--to work part time in law and to sell pictures / parrot products part time. Why? Because the days fly by too quickly when I work all day. It is a whirlwind of activity at the office, and never a dull moment. That is nice, but I come home too exhausted to appreciate the beauty of each day. Too exhausted to even want to deal with the parrots' little quirks, to make dinner...

I DON'T miss law school even one tiny iota--but if I did, I would miss this: the days off (2x/week) when I stayed home working from the desk in the office, watching the fids on the patio, making breakfast and doing light cleaning before starting the day, meditating and doing a 15 min. workout of pilates... Smelling the flowers and smiling at silly sibling rivalry between the little guys. Petting kitties and laughing to myself as I ponder and start a crock-pot dinner... journaling about the tiny terrorists (and all else).

I started working nine months ago. And the days have flown by so quickly I'm not sure what happened. I do not want my life to fly by like that. I do not want to miss taking time to smell flowers, to document my thoughts, to keep up with friends.

Don't get me wrong--I'm not lazy. If I work part-time from home, I would work on the business. But the business is what would allow me to glance up and see Athie dangling like a bat from the swing canopy on the patio, etc. The business would allow me to be surrounded by the things I love during the stillness of the day, when I can hear myself think, and work in the peacefulness of happy parrot chatter.

The parrot business is going really, really well. Saturday was picture day--and I had so many customers that I had to reschedule some for April 19! I've gone from selling the occasional item on ebay to having at least one purchase almost every day. It's certainly not enough to support me--but it shows there is interest in the market. Once I hopefully get the products out onto the shelves in bird stores around the US I hope to keep busy!