My name is Jessica Elliott. I recently lost my closest and most beloved friend. This is Petri’s story:

I was 7-years-old but I remember the first time I saw her. At the time I was living in Indianapolis, IN and my mother had dragged me on another shopping excursion at the local mall. It was my treat for being on good behavior to go into the pet store. That’s where I first saw her, my Peatsy. She was different from all the other parakeets because she didn’t run from me. She just looked at me, ruffled her feathers and cocked her head. I immediately began begging my mother for her. I pleaded with her that my Birthday was so close that she would count as my Birthday present and that she would be my only present. My mother argued the point that I already had another bird at home and said no to the idea of adding another. I left the mall broken hearted.

A couple weeks later my birthday arrived. It was on a Wednesday and I awoke knowing I had to get ready for school. I did so as I always did and went into the kitchen where my mother was waiting. She had made me a special birthday breakfast and I sat down at the table feeling so very special. It was then that she asked if I wanted my main present now or when I got home from school. I of course, said what any newly 8-year-old would say, I wanted my main present now…not later! My mother smiled and disappeared into the hallway. When she returned she was carrying my pink bird cage, but instead of one bird being in there, there were two! I was overjoyed and began yelling “thank you” over and over. I named her immediately. Petri. I had always like that name since the Land Before Time came out on video.

That whole day at school was torture. I couldn’t wait to get home and see my birds. I couldn’t wait to hold Petri for the first time. The clock seemed to move so slowly. But as soon as the bell rang I was sprinting to the bus. The ride home seemed to take forever too. But you can imagine that when the bus did get to my stop, I was out of the doors as fast as a racehorse. I burst into the house and ran right back to my room. There were my birds. Petri and I hit it off from then on. We were always together. Anywhere I would go, she would go. To the store, on a walk, on a bike ride (perched on my shoulder), and even to school a couple of times by accident. She even helped me sell Girl Scout cookies one time. She went with me perched on my shoulder as always. Needless to say, I sold the most in my troop that year!

Peatsy, as I affectionately called her, grew up with me. For the last 4 years of her life she suffered from arthritis and her little legs just didn’t work as well as they used to. So I had made her special perches and stopped clipping her wings to make it easier on her. Our days of bike rides and long walks had come to an end because she could no longer perch on my shoulder. But we did go on drives together. She would nestle in my shirt collar and watch intently out the window. I became her legs and she was able to communicate with me in “showing” me where she wanted me to take her. We had our own language and own means of communication. Love is so amazing that way. We didn’t need words…we just knew each other and how we felt. We each spoke a different language yet we could communicate as though we spoke the same. She was able to tell be when she wanted out of her cage, where she wanted to go, and what she wanted.

The day I found out Peatsy was gone was probably the worst day of my life. She had been sick for a while. She had been in the veterinary office for about a month. She would improve than take a nose-dive for the worst. The doctor had told me to come up and visit her the Friday before she passed away. He wasn’t sure if she’d make it through the weekend. As soon as she saw me from inside her incubator she did her signature call (she only does that when she sees me) and hopped up to the door. The doctor took her out and handed her to me. She immediately began chewing happily on my shirt collar as normal. I kissed the top of her head and told her how much I loved her and missed her being at home with me. She kissed me back as she always did. I sat in a visiting room with her for over an hour and just talked to her. She had medicine all over her face so I took it upon myself to clean her face with a Q-tip and warm water. The doctor came in briefly to tell me that this was the perkiest he’d seen her all week. He said that she was not gaining weight like he wanted and was very worried. I asked if he thought I was being selfish by keeping her alive and if he thought I should euthanize her. He told me to give him until Monday and we’d see. When the doctor left the room I began to cry. I told Peatsy how much I loved her and how bad I wanted her to get better. I told her that I didn’t want to make the decision to end her life. She sat there as she always had when I was upset. But she did something she had never done before. She did her signature call and wiped a tear off my face with her beak. Then she put her head down and fluffed her feathers lethargically. It was then that I realized I wasn’t being fair to her. She was in pain and I felt in my heart she was holding on for me. I said her name and she looked up at me. Then I said something I never wanted to say. I told her if it hurt, it was ok to go. I said I would be ok and we would be together again in Heaven. I told her that a love like ours is never lost and I understood that. She kissed me and then went to chewing on my shirt again. After a long while she began to act tired and cold. So I called one of the techs in to take her back to her incubator. The tech came and I held Peatsy to my face one last time and told her how much I loved her. I told her to be good and that I would miss her until our next visit. As the tech began walking away with Peasty, she began to do her signature call all the way back into the incubator where I couldn’t hear her anymore.

The next day I called the vet. The doctor got on the phone and told me that Peatsy had passed away. I was in shock. I hung up the phone and just sat in my bed staring at the empty bird cage. After about 20 minutes I just burst into tears. I was very distraught for many weeks. But I have now come to realize the truth of it all. Peatsy had given my her last bit of energy. She didn’t want me to see her in pain. And she had been saying good-bye to me the entire time I was visiting her. She had been a true friend to the end. I will never forget her as long as I live, and I look forward to the day when we can meet again.
 

~*~*** IN MEMORY OF PETRI ***~*~


~*** 01/01/1993 – 02/04/06 ***~