29 years ago today....

[Lisa B]

My mother took me shopping to the Sears Surplus store in Oakland NJ.
Next to the sears store, there was a small, old pet shop.
My mom and I went in there and noticed the budgie cage in the front of the store. We had recently had to rehome our angora cat due to my allergies. We had also just moved, and I was a stranger in this new town. Because of all the changes in my life, my mom decided to buy me a parakeet to try to make her little girl happy. Little did my mom know she had started me on a journey that would lead me down the path to where I am now.
Tweety, as we named this little yellow keet, was my constant companion for many years. She was originally owned by an older woman who had passed on, and her children did not want the bird.
Tweety accompanied me to school for show and tell. She was often the center of my science projects. Tweety watched me graduate from high school, and beauty school. She taught me so much about life, responsibility and unconditional love. That little birds cage was always next to me at night. She slept on my chair that was next to my bed.
Tweety was about 18 or 19 when she passed on. She ate only seed. She never went to the vet. As a child/teenager, I did not know any better. I remember the night she passed on like it was yesterday. I woke the entire house up with my screaming because my best friend died. Even my big jerk of a brother shed a tear.
Because of Tweety, I learned allot about birds. I studied, researched and lived my life around birds.
My fascination with the Avian world led me to start a much needed bird club in my area. I made friends with similar interests. My friends, are bird friends.....
I remember in the early 90's, the panic of "Bird Keepers Lung"...Several birds being dropped off at my house at night, and at shelters and pet stores....
By challenging the data provided by the media, it was found to be not much more than a scare tactic used for ratings. Oh and BTW...
According to the data provided on the "bird keepers lung syndrome", I should have been dead years ago. **LOL**
BUT.......... here I am, 29 years later, and not a day has gone by without my feathery babies.
So while many people are out celebrating and looking for that little leprechaun This St Patty's day, I am reminiscing about a little yellow ball of feathers that guided my life path, and taught me life's invaluable lessons.
If my mother had only known........................

[Vankarhi]

Hear Hear. i agree. 32 years ago (almost, in 6 months time anyway). i got my first pet budgie. I have not looked back since and some of my children are the same way inclined - for their love of birds.

[The Outlaw]

Loved that story! You should write that kind of stuff more often. I love those human interest stories.

It is amazing what a pet can mean to a frightened, lonely or sad child. It can take away all the pain. A 19 year old parakeet is still a mighty lucky little bird. And to be remembered so vividly so many years later is truly a testament to him.I think that the most important legacy we can leave is to have mattered so much to someone else.

In any event, having read your story, I'll remember Tweety next St. Patty's Day when I try to figure out why a snake wrangler warranted all the hoopla. Hey, I'm half Irish and am married to an Irishman, but its still a mystery to me!

Thanks for sharing Tweety's story.

THE OUTLAW

[greyburd]

That was a grey't story Lisa. Kinda reminded me of my first parakeet more than 20 years ago. I think his name was Sammy. Don't ask me where I got that from!! :-)

Thanks for sharing.

[fatma]

What wonderful story Lisa... I agree with you and really know how does the bird take a part of the humen life, but most people don`t beleive in it!!!!

[CKD]

Ditto about the story. We also had a bird named Tweety when I was younger. He ate only seed. I have no idea how old he was when my mom brought him home. I dont believe my mom ever took him to a vet. I do know he was a happy little guy that my mom had for a good 15 years before his passing.
I now have 2 keets in my flock and love them just as much as my others. They are not tame and stay in their cages 95% of the time. They are just content with each other and could care less about anything else. LOL
Now if could only get them to breed !!!!

[PEANUT]

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap

HOW LOVELY.. THAT WILL BE ME IN ANOTHER 30 YEARS WITH KRAMER... I JUST CANNOT IMAGINE LIFE WITH OUT HIM. HE MAKES ME LAUGH AND WHEN I HAVE HAD A REALLY BAD DAY HE MAKES ME FORGET ALL THE CRAP I DEAL WITH DAY TO DAY. ALL I HAVE TO DO IS GO HOME AND GET HIM OUT OF HIS CAGE AND START TALKING AND PLAYING WITH HIM AND I FORGET ABOUT IT ALL ALEAST FOR A WHILE.

[Peregrine Harlequin]

Wonderful story, Lisa. But I'm thinking either Oakland is north of me or maybe you mean Oaklyn? Not that it matters, because the results are much more important than the methods in this case.

I have yet to get my first bird, so I'm trying to think back to when I developed an interest in them. As far as I can tell, it really got started in my sophomore year in college (2002-2003). I remember emailing mom to ask her what those little gray and white birds were (juncos). Then I remember watching a broad-winged hawk soar through a window before one of my classes. (I watched through the window; the bird was soaring outside.) Knowing that it wasn't a red-tail, but not knowing what it was really helped, I think. It made me look through the books and read about different hawks.

That summer I even talked a little boy out of keeping a blue jay feather so I could pick it up myself. I know, I know. It was a horribly selfish thing to do. But the feather is beautiful, and he could have taken some kind of illness home with him... :aiwebs_01

And since I've been unable to get and keep any job since the camp season ended in August '03 (I know, I know. I am a bum.), I've really gotten into birdwatching. My great uncle likes to take day trips where he just drives around to nowhere in particular. So I started going out with him, his sister, and sometimes mom. We usually end up either along Delaware Bay or at the ocean proper, but every trip is a bird watching trip.

Add onto that being bitten by the parrot bug last October, when I held a macaw for the first time. It was so different from holding our little lovebird at home! And the fact that he grabbed a bit more than the shirt on my arm and chest only increased the wonder I felt when holding such a creature. A month later I tried to hold one again, but received bruises halfway around each forearm for my efforts.

And mom says she doesn't want any big birds. If she only knew what she was missing. But at least she said yesterday that she'll probably always have a lovebird.

[Greymom721]

What a Beautiful story....thank you so much for sharing it with us! It truly touchd my heart.

[Lynjupiter]

That is beautiful. I know someday my kids will write a story on being raised with birds and I hope my birds have given them half as much of an education on love as Tweety did you. Tweety was an angel sent to you to lead you down a feathered path
Lynda