The Rickeybird Scrapbook
Memory Lane Retirement Party
Episode 4
Thank you, my darlings! Well, now you've gone and done it: you've gotten me all nostalgic and misty-eyed!!!!!!!!!!!
I have GOT to share a special sunrise memory. It took place over 35 years ago. Many of you know the story already. I was still in college... and...
I had just made the impulse purchase of my life. When I walked into a bird store in New Mexico, the Rickeybird (then a 3-month-old chick) flapped and flew from his display perch to me, scrambled into my arms, turned on his back, and grabbed my fingers with his feet. He seemed glued to me. I had just gotten my work-study college check, and I had always wanted a brd, and he was so precious, and I could figure a way to make it work, and he just seemed so desperate, and the store-guy said he'd help me out, and, and... so... I bought him! COMPLETELY CRAZY. I was so hypnotized that I couldn't even leave him there for even one more night, AND THE CAGE COULDN'T BE DELIVERED UNTIL THE NEXT DAY. But home we drove. That night, he slept on my shoulder, as I sat on the floor, my back against the wall. The next morning, that predictable, brutal New Mexico sunlight slanted in the livingroom window, lighting us up like a giant spotlight... and he began to call and squawk... and thus began my life with the Rickeybird.
Just a little detail that explained a few things, much later. Using his band, I traced his breeder. She bred and hand-fed baby birds in Arizona, and then shipped them all over the Southwest, for resale. That was a couple of weeks before I showed up. We eventually exchanged photos and letters (this was pre-'net, y'all!)... and she could have been my sister! We were both very tall, very thin, with very long red hair and very big Poindexter glasses, very long faces and very big toothy smiles. The Rb thought his mommy (or close enough!) had walked in to rescue him. He wasn't letting go again, not ever. Imagine his joy. And as for me? I wasn't sure why, but... there was no way I could have found the heart to peel him off my fingers and leave him alone that night. To this day, I cannot recall that day without a sigh...
Now, flash forward to 2020, when the Rickeybird was greeting the sun (along with the help of his favorite bed-fellow, his bell... thanks, Al). Yeah, normal pets sleep with cuddly blankets or stuffed snimals. My parrot sleeps with a bell.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVm9NTINO8A"]rickeybirdproductions - HAPPY NEW YEAR... 2020 !! - YouTube[/ame]
Anywayyyyyyyyyyyyyy... WHO COULD HAVE IMAGINED WHAT 2020 WOULD BE LIKE?
But here we are, still.
And I am a grateful member of the greatest parronting community on Earth. I love you, Parrot Forumzszszszss.
