The very first parrot I owned was the result of a moment of righteous indignation.  Or at least, I thought it was righteous.  I will admit to a bit of parrot snobbery in my youth.  I thought I knew better and could do more.

Back in those days they used to sell parrots at places like Pet Smart and Pet Co.  I thought that was a bad idea then and I still think so now.  The staff is not trained to deal with parrots and the average shopper at those stores is better suited for a parakeet than a parrot.  Thankfully, they don’t sell them anymore.  But that is where I ran across a certain Yellow Naped Amazon.

There is a sort of bird to human chemistry that exists, and a bird may or may not take a liking to you, even if you are a bird whisperer.  This particular Amazon seemed to take an immediate liking to me.  And when I saw the staff members handle him roughly and take a treat away that they had just given him, well, all of my Mercy indignation rose to the surface.  I didn’t smack the lady like I wanted to, but that Amazon parrot DID come home with me that night – after I carefully considered (for about 2 minutes) whether I could actually afford to own a parrot.

I transported my new pet triumphantly out of the store to the car in a little dog carrier.  He hadn’t made much noise before then.  But as soon as I sat down and put him on my lap, I heard something coming out of the carrier.  I looked at my friend.  “Is he laughing??”  She grinned.  “It sure sounds like it!”

And so began my life with Charles.  Or Charlie for short, or Sweetie, or other things, depending on how well he was behaving.

Charlie suffered no lack of self-confidence or self-esteem, for that matter.  He pretty much knew what he wanted and pretty much thought he ought to have it.  Muffin was sweet-tempered.  Charlie was just tempered.  There was a certain look in his eyes that I learned very quickly meant “get near me at your own risk”.  That posed some interesting complications when he was already sitting on my shoulder and I needed to put him back on his cage.  But for all of his willfulness, he had a gentle side.  He loved to cuddle near me under a blanket when I was watching a movie, and at other times he would sit on my arm and snuggle up so I could scratch his head.  I have never seen a parrot enjoy that more than he did.

One of my favorite things to do with Charlie was to take him out for a walk or for a ride in the car.  I loved to watch people’s reactions.  I found a dog leash that was small enough that I could attach it to his leg band and it wasn’t too heavy.  And off we would go for a walk around the block.  It was especially fun in the car.  We built a perch that would fit over the front seat, so I would have a little feathered passenger.  I was at the ATM one time and someone drove by, and then stopped, circled, and came back.  They rolled down their window and kindly informed me that I had a parrot sitting in the seat next to me.  I told them I had been wondering what it was, and I felt much better now that I knew.

Charlie saw me through one of the roughest patches of my life.  I think it was a year or two after I got him that my best friend and I decided we were going to move out of the small town in Michigan where we grew up to the twin cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul.  It’s a long story as to why there, but that’s where we decided to go, and so we bundled up both parrots and all our worldly possessions  and off we went.

We were there only a few months when life began to unravel.  My best friend ended up rushing back to Michigan for emergency surgery and I followed a couple of weeks later with both parrots.  I was an emotional mess myself, and every mile I put between me and Minneapolis, the better I felt.

It took a while to put the pieces back together, but it was also in this season that I came across Sapphire, or Plumbline Ministries as it was back then.  Charlie and I were living at my parent’s house until I could get my feet back under me and get an apartment.  And Charlie remained his inimitable self throughout the whole thing, which was a tremendous gift of stability at a time when I really needed it.

I was drinking from the Plumbline stream like a woman in the desert.  I was such an emotional mess inside and all of this stuff about design, and the Mercy gift (good gracious, God would create this on PURPOSE? Still a few years before I reconciled to that), and spiritual cleansing, and inner healing, and you know the drill.

Eventually, it led to another huge change in my life, where I would rip up my roots all over again, only this time to go even FURTHER away.  Within about three years of my introduction to Plumbline, I was contemplating moving to California to work there.  My best friend already was.  And I could hardly stand the thought of her having all the fun.

But this also posed a challenging question.

Would I take Charlie?

A question I agonized over.  There were a lot of reasons for either decision.  I knew this was a monumental  transition in life.  I anticipated that it would require a lot of energy, emotional investment, travel, and more.  It was a growth opportunity of a lifetime. Could I subject him to a life where I was going to be gone so much?  Yet, I loved him. A lot.  He was one of the anchoring consistencies of my life.  And it is hard on parrots to change owners, even for an unflappable Amazon.

At the end of the day, I decided I had to find him a new home.  I remember sitting on the floor with him one evening and realizing that I couldn’t allow him to be the centering point of my universe.  Life had to revolve around God’s bigger plan, not around my parrot, regardless of how much I loved him.  That was a hard pill to swallow.

So, I found a parrot rescue that had a good reputation.  Leaving him there was the hardest thing I had ever done.  But, even though my emotions were hurting, I knew I had done the right thing.   The next season of life would be demanding and it was important that I could be flexible and free.

It would be well over a decade before I would consider owning a parrot again.