Monday, December 24, 2007

Sadness- A tough lesson in life

Heartache by PolarBear

Sadness For All

We are all very upset today. Our wonderful budgie friend, Sunbeam, died. He was the tamest I have ever been able to get a budgie. We actually got him as a family Solstice gift in 2004. Now, barely over 3 years old, he is gone.

For the last year he and his partner Raindrop have been my constant companions in our bedroom. I had stopped closing their cage door unless we had to have the house doors open. Sunbeam would sometimes wake me when I was napping or even in the morning by hopping out of his cage and landing on my head and lightly pulling on my hair. I was never able to teach him to talk, but he was an astonishing mimic, often playing games with us by imitating the sounds of the phone or the microwave and seeming to chuckle when someone came running to find out what was happening.

Looking back on the last few days, I think he was trying to tell us he was not feeling well even though he showed no serious signs until just yesterday. He had been extra affectionate a couple of days last week, and would not leave my shoulder. One morning he kept coming out of his cage and sitting on my leg while I was sleeping. I was worried I would roll over on him so after putting him back 3 or 4 times I closed his cage door until I was ready to get up for the day. It seems like he was trying to tell me something was wrong.

We tried so hard to save him. There is no vet that we could take him to anywhere here, and we wouldn’t have had the money anyway, so I had kept him warm and hand fed him mashed-up seeds and tried to get him to drink juice and water. At first he would take a little and seemed to be getting stronger, but finally he just refused.

I sat beside him all day long, watching him in his cage. Finally he got too weak to hold on to the perch and I caught him before he fell. I held him close for another hour until he finally breathed his last in my hand. When he died, we all cried, but me and the girl cried the most. The boy didn’t entirely understand and thought we could put new batteries in him.

Up at the top is a picture I made of him when he was a few months old. I took a photo and processed it digitally to look like a painting.

We’re really going to miss him.