Little Bella

Yesterday, Tristam's little parakeet, Bella, died.

She came to live with us after the janitor at his preschool found her on the roof. She was cheerful and sweet and all yellow. About 4 months ago, she started showing signs of illness. We took her to the avian vet and he gave us all sorts of treatments to try because he had very little idea of what could be wrong with her. The vet guessed that she might have cancer because her symptoms were so unusual. Anyhow... she perked up a little and seemed to be turning a corner. Then she would be lethargic again and seemed to get worse. .. Yesterday, she died. Fred and I were there when she died and my sweet husband talked to her in her last few minutes of life. Told her that she was loved and that he hopes that her soul goes into a body that is healthy and that she has a beautiful next life. We were both blubbering.

When I picked Tristam up from school I told him what happened. This was the first pet that has died that was his and that wasn't a fish. It was hard. He held her little body for the longest time, looking at her and petting her head and crying. And I thought of that moment earlier in the day when I watched her eyes go from having life to cloudy...one of lives biggest mysteries- what happens in that moment. We are all heading that way .The boy at the table with his pet that had been alive that morning and what he must have been thinking about this little friend that has been part of his life for a good chunk of it. We talked, then Tristam went out into the garden a picked flowers and put wrapped Bella small towel and placed her in a pretty box. We had a little ceremony for her. Then he made a card for her and wrote down things he wanted to remember about her. The captions on the card read, "I love you", "please be happy", "you are awesome". It was all very sad and sweet.