A Memorial to Flower

:'(

Today my bird, my best (animal) friend, died. I would just like to do something for her.

Flower... 2007-2012 

I think a little back story is in order. 

A few years ago, I had to go through this procedure, and I was just about ready to tell my mom I didn't want to. So she bribed me with a bird. 

This is an essay I wrote a few months ago about how I got her. You obviously don't have to read it, but I feel that she needs to be remembered in some way...

 A few years ago, my family and I went to Washing State for my brother, Chris's, graduation. We were in the car, and I was watching the birds. "I want a bird," I said, deep in thought.

     My mom told me that wasn't going to happen. I complained the whole trip about wanting a bird.

     When we finally got home, we went to the hospital for something about me. They told me that they could do an invasive medical procedure and then they could help me with something that is too embarrassing to say what it is.

     The doctor said I had to do it right then and I was really scared because I didn't want to do it at all, especially with such short notice. My mom was running out of options to get me to do it because it was really going to hurt so she said that she would get me a bird if I did that surgery.

     I thought about it for a minute, and finally thought, "What is there to lose? I get a bird and they can find out what's wrong with me!"

     After I got the surgery, my mom took me to Pets Mart and I found the one that I wanted within minutes of arriving. He was a gray cockatiel and he was sitting in the corner of the cage. He looked really sad and lonely.

     The bird was really quite and wasn't moving, and that worried my mom, so she decided to ask an employee about him.

     The employee said he was probably sick and he would get the Pets Mart vet to look at him before he sold the bird to us. He also said that he would hold the bird for me and we could come back and get him if he was healthy.

     The next day my mom called Pats Mary and asked about the bird. A different employee said they had sold him. My mom got really mad at them and asked to talk to the manager. When she got a hold of the manager, she basically yelled, "An employee told me that he would get a bird looked at by the vet and he would hold the bird until we came and got him, and now you guys are saying that the bird was sold! Now I have a crying eight year old!"

     It was weird for me because I couldn't remember a time when my mom got that mad at someone.

     The employee also said it was, 'first come, first served,' and that made my mom really mad because we were first, and the employee said that he would hold him for us. It also made my mom angry because I really wanted that bird. I was planning on naming him Sweetie.

     "I hope that person gets fired," I said after all was said and done.

     My mom said that we could go to other placed to find another bird that was perfect for me.

     The next day we went to Pet Co. and I found a bird in the top corner of a cage in the bird room. She was a gray cockatiel and had a white racing stripe on both of her wings. She also had an orange spot on both of her cheeks. Those orange spots were to protect her ear holes.

     She had yellow lines on either side of her beak, and little pink feet. She was perfect!

     She reminded me a lot of Sweetie, but I liked her more. I could tell that she was the bird I wanted to bring home.

     My mom got a text from my other brother, Beau, saying he was hungry and needed dinner, so we had to go without buying the bird. I got sad, but she told me that we would come back later in the day when she had her money with her.

After eating dinner, we went back to Pet Co. to buy her. We went into the bird area of the store, and she was gone.

I was starting to get sad again, and my mom was getting mad that I had already lost one bird, and now this one. "It's already gone?" she exclaimed. But then I saw movement in the top corner of the cage; she was still there.

     My mom asked an employee to get her for us. The employee said that we could pick her up and put her in a box so we could take her home. "Do you want to put her in?" my mom asked. I said I was a little nervous, so she did it for me.

     The cashier checked us out and my mom gave me the box. As we were walking out she whispered, "When I picked her up, she bit me."

     I didn't want to have to bring her back within the first few seconds of buying her, so I said, "Well, maybe she was just scared."

     "Yeah, but she bit me really hard."

     I still didn't want that to mean that she was going to be a bad bird. I told her that maybe she would be better when we got home and after she had calmed down.

     We got into the car and my mom asked me what I wanted to name her. "I have no clue! What doyou think I should name her?" I asked, looking into the box.

     "I don't know, she your bird," she said.

     Later in that same car ride, one of us said something about the skunk, Flower, from Bambi.

     When the name Flower came up, I knew what I wanted to name my bird. "What about Flower?" I asked.

"That's a good name for her," she replied.

      I couldn't be sure that Flower was what I wanted to name her because that would be her name for the rest of her life, so I asked, "Does she look like a Flower?"

     "Yes she does," my mom said.

     When we got home, we showed me brothers. My brother, Chris, said, "Just don't name her anything stupid like 'Princess.'"

     "I wouldn't name her anything like that! I named her Flower!" I exclaimed. I was irritated because why on earth would I name her 'Princess?'

     My dad didn't know anything about the bird because he was away on a business trip in the Cayman Islands.

     "What do you think Dad is going to say when he sees her?" I would ask often.

     "I'm not sure," my mom would reply.

     We put her in our front room to play with her. My sister, Corinne, came home and picked her up. She used to have two cockatiels so she knew what she was doing.

     Flower bit down on her finger in the most tender spot there is.

     My sister started shaking her hand, trying to get her off. She was almost in tears by the time she finally flung her off of her finger. "If she ever does that again, we're taking her back!" my mom told me after everyone had calmed down. My mom was really angry, and I think she was in shock over what had just happened. I was almost in tears myself, that was the first day and Flower was already causing problems!

     After that, I was scared to death of her. We still continued to get her out to see if maybe she just needed to warm up to being away from the store. She never bit again, but she would hiss if we came near her.

     I didn't really want her by this point because she was really mean and I was terrified of her. When my dad got home from his business trip, my mom told him what was happening. He told me to get her out and we sat down on the living room floor. My dad doesn't even like animals very much and he's the one that fixed her.

     "You can't be so scared, that's your problem. If you stop being so afraid, she'll be better. Flower just thinks she's the boss, because she can tell you're nervous," he told me.

     So I held her and showed her that I was in charge. She even climbed up my back and tickled me, although I don't think that's what she intended to do. She didn't seem so bad after I wasn't so scared anymore, but I was still a little bit nervous because I thought that she was going to bite me, like she did to Corinne, when I was least expecting it.

     After that, Flower and I were best friends. We played everyday and I did everything with her. It even started bugging my family because she would always be flying around.

     Flower eventually laid some eggs. When birds lay eggs and there's no other bird around, that means that they did it because they love their owners, which means she loves me!

     She was the sweetest bird I had ever met, and she even said when she wanted to get out of her cage by running back and forth on the bottom of her cage. When I would put her on the floor, she would crawl upstairs to my mom and dad's room and would wait there until they came out, or she would go over to our dog's food bowl and eat with them.

     But that all changed after we got our new dog, Rocky. He tries to kill her if I let her out, so I'm not allowed to get her out as much anymore.

     We don't do as much with each other now because I'm so busy with school, and because of Rocky, but we're still good friends!

 Yes, maybe some parts were a little cheesy, but it about sums it up. (it was cheesy to fit my essay standards) 

I'm really going to miss her. 

I love you Flower!!