Goodbye Jasper

I don't even have the words to describe how I felt about this little guy. I loved him for many, many years and I wasn't ready for him to go. I knew it would happen someday, but I still wasn't prepared for it. I don't expect anyone to REALLY understand how I feel because he was just a bird, afterall...but to me, he was more. I had him for 20 years, so he's all I know. I think the silence will be hard. I will miss the chirping, squawking, singing, whistling and talking. It will be quiet...
After I got him, my older brother made a tape that we would play for him when we'd leave the house. He would say over and over a whistle "Woo, woo"...like you'd do when see someone attractive:) and then "Hello". Also, everyone was assigned to say hello to him often so he could learn to say it. Then one day he did! "Hello Jasper! Hello Jasper!" We always said "Jasper" when we said hello to him, so he learned how to say his own name! I heard "Hello Jasper! Hello Jasper!" and a whistle "Woo, woo" 100 times a day for the next 20 years! I will miss that!

He loved to play in the bath.
Shortly after I got married, I had Jasper on my shoulder while I was cleaning the house. I went to take the garbage out to the car port (duh!) and a gust of wind came and off Jasper flew. High, high away. I cried and cried. I was so worried about what would happen to him and I was also so angry with myself for being so stupid. I proceeded to drive around the neighborhood asking everyone if they had seen him. I even got the mail-lady involved. I put his cage in my front yard and left it there for days thinking he might come back to it. I made posters with pictures of him and hung them everywhere. Everyone I knew was thinking there was no chance I was ever getting him back. I actually saved that poster, but I don't know where it is right now. One day, a little girl who had found my bird hopping around on her back deck, saw my poster on her way to school. This was in March and he had been missing for four days! They had put him in their dog kennel. My mom received the call while I was at work and picked him up. I was completely shocked when I could hear a bird chirping down the hall in the middle of the hospital and my mom came in with a bag...with a bird in it! He jumped right to me! After work we took him to a vet to have him checked out and he fell asleep on my shoulder in the car...he'd been through a lot. That was 10 years ago. I was so lucky to have been able to find him and have him continue to be part of my life.

When I got him for my 10th birthday, I never could've imagined that he would actually still be around when I had my own children!

My kids loved playing with him.
If we're being honest here though, he was an ornery thing! I actually snapped this picture a split second before Jake burst into tears and was bleeding slightly.
My heart aches for him and I will miss him terribly. It's hard not to wish I had done things differently. Like say goodnight to him the night before he died, or do a blog post on his 20th birthday like I had planned, or gotten him out of his cage to play a little more often. I know I can't do that to myself though and I know that he did have a good long life, with lots of love!

"Hello Jasper! Hello Jasper!"...Goodbye Jasper. I love you!