Rico the Parakeet

When I was in high school, I had the brilliant idea that my brother and I should get a bird for our mom for Mother's Day. She had an empty cage and we needed a gift. My best friend's grandpa raised parakeets and had a few that weren't claimed the Saturday before Mother's Day. We are last minute people. We grabbed the cage, hopped in the car, and drove to pick up the perfect gift for our favorite person.

We got there and collected our bird. He was beautiful and seemed happy in his cage. We paid for him and drove away.

Along the twenty minute drive, things took a turn for the worse. Our new little family member began shaking. My brother, Josh, said he might be scared, so we turned the music down and watched him. He started shaking violently before collapsing to the bottom of the cage. Dead.

I can still remember sitting at the intersection waiting for the arrow to turn green, with the feeling of sheer panic, staring at our dead Mother's Day present. We were about five minutes from home as we tried to figure out what we we do. Should we ditch the cage and pretend this didn't just happen, leaving us empty handed on Mother's Day? Should we just tell her so she knows we tried? It's the thought that counts, right?

Our mom is lighthearted and comical so we knew she would get a good laugh out of this. We grabbed the cage, dead bird at the bottom, and marched into the house to explain what had just happened.

She laughed so hard at us. I can remember the look on her face when she saw the cage - delight! I can also remember the look on her face when she saw the bottom of the cage. We told her what happened as we called the breeder to see if anything could be done. She bent over laughing as she prepared to bury our newest family member present gone all wrong.

Of course, the breeder replaced our bird for us. Apparently, birds don't like traveling in the open and it was too much for the poor, little parakeet. When we picked up our new bird, we put him in a brown paper bag and brought him home to ensure he didn't die right in front of us like his brother.

Meet Rico, the replacement bird.

That Mother's Day we certainly did not give the best gift to our mom but we did give her a good laugh. I hope one day when my kids hand me a box with a dead animal in it, I can be as lighthearted and understanding as my mom was with us.

As for this Mother's Day, I am sticking with a gift that can't go wrong - nothing with a beating heart and fear of cars. What are you giving your Mom?