Eulogy for a Little Friend - June 18 2008

My dear friends,

This morning my beloved avian companion, Oscar, passed away. I was there with him when he took his last breath and chirped his last chirp. He would have been 12 years old in a couple of week's time and I was fortunate to have him as a pet and friend. He helped me through some pretty difficult times in my life, and even though he never answered, he listened - tilted his head to the side as if to say, I understand.

He had quite a wonderful life, from his early beginnings in California to our exciting life here in Boston. He flew in a plane all across the country (can't say he liked it very much), took frequent weekend trips to New Hampshire and Cape Cod and even upstate New York, and when I was out of town, happily spend time with his foster families, the Coopers in Salem and the Cooleys in Watertown. He had many human friends, some of whom became his caretakers while I was away from him - Denise, Rick, Ruth, Renee, Ken, Sally, Claire, Joanne, Ben, Kaitlin, Martin, Lucy, Glennys and Patrick, Beverly - he loved you all. He had many nicknames - "Little O", "Banana Boy", "Mr Meyer" or as I called him lovingly in German, "mein kleiner dicker gelber Vogel" (my chubby little yellow bird).

I will miss him terribly, that little yellow rascal, he was a special bird. He spoke German (mostly about himself, how cute he was, what a good kisser he was etc - he may have been just a wee bit vain), loved making kissing sounds, and sit on my shoulder, nibble on my earrings and constantly had a project going in his cage, usually involving the destruction of one of his toys. He loved the beeping sound the phone made, was very fond of keyboards, and had his favorite foods - corn flakes, orange juice, oats, yoghurt, celery greens and parsley. He disliked the color red and once in a while during one of his moods (we all have them, don't we?) he flew around like a madman just to show me who was the boss in the house. He loved his bird friend Marge, and taught her how to fly around the house and land safely back on the cage, and he loved his friend Phoebe, who always treated him special.

My favorite sound in the world was his first chirp in the morning, very quiet, very faint, as if to say, I am not quite up yet, give me a minute.

My friend Rick said something very nice today about having pets - they are part of your family, loyal companions who are always chipper, who never judge you, and are always happy to see you. That was true for Oscar - when I came home, he hopped to the front of the cage to welcome me, and he never cared if I looked my best that day, or if my hair was a total mess (at least he kept it to himself). He was my first pet as an adult and definitely set the bar high.

He was a good bird.

Very sadly,

pet:)