Happy 1985-1994
'Til later, my Baby Bird
Happy Leaves Us
I awoke late one morning - having the day off work - and uncovered Happy. My baby bird was at the bottom of his cage, stiff and lifeless. I screamed and put the cover back on the cage. In tears, I called Greg, who was at work that day. To his everlasting credit, he told his boss he had a domestic emergency and had to leave. By the time he got home two hours later, I had rested Happy in [dare I say it] a large, clean butter container, cut out a piece of the fabric I used to cover his cage at night and laid it on top of his sweet little body. I avoided the room until Greg got home; we brought Dancer down to walk around the floor where the container with Happy was but she didn't seem too interested. I'm sure she knew long before I did that Happy's spirit had left his body. Greg dug up a spot in the side garden and we laid Happy to rest. A few weeks later, I planted forget-me-nots on his grave. If I could ever forget Happy, those forget-me-nots would remind me every spring when they started sprouting up all over our huge yard! The following summer, I had to start digging large patches of them up but as long as we stayed at the house, the ones on his grave remained. Months later, browsing at a farm store where they sold concrete yard ornaments, we came across a large concrete statue of two birds beak to beak. Greg bought it for me and we put that on top of the gravesite. I kept that statue with me for another 15 years before it succumbed to age and split right down the middle.
While I grieved for Happy many months and missed him terribly, I was also joyous as I thought of him flying free in his new home, free of pain and fear, able to spread his wings and soar. I still, though rarely, take out my trunk full of memories and hold the silky lilac fabric of his cage covering and his music box - which no longer plays. As I walk along the lane of my memories, I can almost - almost - hear him singing and chirping as he flies around the special place I'm sure God created for His precious "lesser" creatures.
While I grieved for Happy many months and missed him terribly, I was also joyous as I thought of him flying free in his new home, free of pain and fear, able to spread his wings and soar. I still, though rarely, take out my trunk full of memories and hold the silky lilac fabric of his cage covering and his music box - which no longer plays. As I walk along the lane of my memories, I can almost - almost - hear him singing and chirping as he flies around the special place I'm sure God created for His precious "lesser" creatures.