MEMORIES OF GEORGIE

Many years ago, 30 to be exact, David had a parakeet named Georgie. He was bright green with yellow and black. David bought him with his savings(Communion Gift money). He then saved for a new cage and kept Georgie in his room. He loved that bird to death. He taught him to talk, to land on an outstretched finger, to ride on Mandy's(our dog)back....and to avoid the cat, Scratcher. All was well in the house of man, dog, cat and bird.

In August our annual camping trip to the Pinery was planned. Grandma and Grandpa Barber were taking Georgie for a vacation at their house. Two days before we were set to leave, I put Ann in the front seat(she was almost 3), the birdcage in the middle next to her, and I went back to the porch to grab the stand. As I struggled to put the stand in the back seat, a small voice was heard from the front seat, "Georgie go bye-bye". I quickly looked in the cage and much to my dismay it was empty. The cage door was open as were the car windows. Ann continued, "I put Georgie on my finger and he go bye-bye." I dreaded telling David:(

I could barely look at him. He was so upset. Off we went to the street behind us, the direction Ann said Georgie had flown. Sure enough we found him in someone's backyard, high up in a huge Maple. With David coaxing, finger outstretched Georgie attempted several landings, but he couldn't make it past the strong updrafts. The owner of the house let us leave the cage on his driveway overnight. Come morning there stood an empty cage. No sign of Georgie following an abnormally cold August night.

Our home was silent of chirping and mimicking, all that could be heard that night was an eight year old boy crying himself to sleep in his Mother's arms. The Mother cried too, and for one of a few times in her life she didn't know what to say. She wrote in a journal that night, one she still has, and found in that telling some comfort for herself. The beginning of writing about her feelings that has carried her through the past thirty years. The beginning of a personal journey and the realization that she couldn't fix or control everything Something she still struggles with every day.