Send us your bird story and photos. Lody But, as it is often the case, Mother was stricken with grief and we rarely saw that beautiful smile of her's anymore. We spent as much time with her as we could, and as the days passed, she began to show signs of happiness again when she was with family. But back in her home she was again alone and saddness would sink in. One day, while working as a receptionist in a doctor's office, one of the patients was telling me that she was moving to Florida and was at wits ends trying to find a home for her cockatiel. Right away I though of Mother. Maybe a pet would perk up her world at home. We always had dogs and cats growing up and Mother kept a bird feeder well supplied outside her kitchen window even now. So one afternoon, I picked up the little bird and went to deliver her to Mother. The little creature was very quiet on the ride, and I can remember thinking that it seemed as sad as my mom. I remembered that I had a hair appointment and wouldn't get to my mother's house that day, afterall. The little bird came home with me that day and our children buzzed around its cage excitedly. But the little bird sat, not making a sound. The next day when I was ready to take it to my mother's, I was concerned that it might not have been a good idea afterall. I arrived with this bird in cage and was relieved to see Mother's eyes light up when she saw what I had brought her. "This is for me?" she said. She took the cage and sat it on her kitchen table, and when she took the towel off, the bird said, "Hello Sweetie-Pie." Mother and I both laughed as she put her hand into the cage and the bird stepped right out onto her finger as if she had always known her. The little bird was very bright with lots of yellow and Mother immediately fell in love with it. Her name was Lody, short for Melody, and Mother was laughing again.
“He is just a parakeet,” said the breeder to the boy, but to eleven year old Andy, he was just as valuable and beautiful as the majestic parrots he and his mother looked at. Andy remembered seeing a red Macaw and a smaller green parrot when he was in the children’s hospital. The man brought them in to cheer the children while they were in treatment. Andy thought, at that time, how nice it would to have a bird of his own.
Andy and his mother drove two hours to the aviary where they would purchase a little bird for Andy. Andy’s eyes twinkled as they entered the area where the large birds were kept. Andy’s mother chatted with the owners while Andy walked from pen to pen. Then they all went into another room where smaller birds were kept. There were Cockatiels, Lovebirds, and other birds, and then they came to a group of smaller cages where parakeets were kept.
Andy looked and looked at each one, and the owner began taking individual birds out that he thought were a little tamer. Andy had trouble choosing, but then a little blue and white parakeet hopped onto Andy’ s head and then onto his arm and he was chirping the whole time. “This is the one I want!” The owner checked the little bird all over and told Andy and his mom that the parakeet was about seven weeks old. “He is just a parakeet, but is a good choice for a pet for a young child.” Andy’s father had left a year before and Andy had been hospitalized for tests and complications of diabetes. The doctor’s were concerned about a sound they had heard in his heart. While he was there, he made friends with other children that were there for other reasons. Some had cancer, some had kidney disease, but they all got to enjoy the recreation room with the man with birds came. |
Each time we
visited or talked to Mother on the phone, she told us
some new thing that Lody was doing. Lody loved to sit on
the window sill above the sink when Mother was washing
dishes. She'd sit there and watch the birds at the bird
feeder on the other side of the window, and she'd carry
on conversations with them. "Hello, little
bird," she would say. One day she began to play with
the bubbles in the sink and Mother told the story over
and over, among so many others. When Lody wasn't
playing, she sat quietly on Mother's shoulder almost all
day long, and at night Mother would carry her cage and
set it on her nightstand. Lody Lody cheered Mother's lonely heart in ways we never expected. Funny how something as simple as the antics of a yellow bird could lift grief to a bearable level. Mother had a stroke a few years later and gradually went down hill. The painful decision of putting her in a nursing home came to our family and Lody came to live with us. Lody never talked or whistled except on Tuesdays and Thursday when we were allowed to take her to visit Mother. Lody was still the bright spot in my mother's life. Then one day the nurse called to tell us that Mother had passed away in her sleep. Through all the arrangements and my own grieving, I hadn't paid much attention to Lody. Two weeks after Mother died, Lody came out of her cage, walked up on my shoulder, which she had never done before, and said, "Hello, Sweetie Pie." It made me cry. She reminded me so much of my mother, but more importantly, she reminded that grief does not have to last forever. A month later we found Lody dead in her cage and we never knew the cause. But we did know why she lived. She lived to brighten a heart broken woman's life and when her job was finished, she had nothing more to do. I will never forget the little bird named Lody with lots of yellow who brought joy to my mother's life... By Juliet Miller, Oregon Just a parakeet-cont' The doctor’s found out that Andy had a valve in his heart that was not working properly. They would keep a close eye on him, but he would be scheduled for surgery within months. Andy’s mother thought a dog would be too much for Andy. He would want to run and play with a dog, which was something he couldn’t do. But she wanted him to have a pet, and so, they settled on a bird.
Andy’s mom had not heard Andy laugh or giggle since his dad left. But the little, feathered companion chirped his way into Andy’s heart and Andy named him Buddy. Buddy seemed to know when Andy was tired or sad and when he was out of his cage, he would stay very close to Andy. When Buddy was in his cage, he’d entertain Andy by splashing in his bathtub and playing with his toys, and when Andy slept, Buddy stayed very quiet.
The time came for Andy to have his surgery in March of that year. Hospital stays and surgery are hard for children. But Andy’s hope and encouragement was his desire to get back home to his little friend. Time passed, finally, and Andy was well. He would go outside carrying Buddy in a smaller cage. They would walk around the yard and visit with the elderly neighbor lady. She loved it when Andy and Buddy came to visit.
Andy’s mother knew, finally, that she and Andy would be ok. She had not heard from her husband and she knew how sad Andy was about that, but they would be ok, and Buddy was not just a parakeet.....
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