Goodbye, My Friend, And Good Luck
My beloved parakeet is finally free.
I bought Charlie from a private breeder in Riverside, the first time I moved to California, back in late 2002. He’s been my best friend ever since.
When I was feeling lonely living in a new state far from friends, he was my company. I remember one day in particular, I was laying on my make-shift bed on the floor. When I moved to California, I didn’t bring any furniture with me. I had just gotten out of a really painful relationship too. I needed to feel loved. I needed to feel touched. I needed to know someone cared and I wasn’t alone.
Charlie, suddenly, flew out of his cage and landed on my ankle, as I laid there on the floor. He sat there, just for a moment, just long enough to help me feel that someone cared, that someone loved me. I started to feel better. And he flew back to his cage.
True story.
Charlie has been my teacher all these years. He’s taught me a lot about God’s love for me, through my love for him. One year I was visiting my parents in Florida. Charlie came along. There he had an encounter with my mom’s much larger parrot — who nearly bit off his entire foot! We rushed Charlie to the vet. Luckily, the vet was still open for another half hour that day, and a bird specialist happened to be on staff. Charlie’s foot was saved, although he never regained full use of it. In the picture above, you can see him with his little birdie cast while his foot was healing.
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