Rest In Peace, sweet Gracie

I got a text message late on Monday evening from the friend who gave Belle to us last year. She told me that Gracie, Belle's mama, had died earlier that day. I stood in the kitchen reading the text message to Hal while the tears started to fall, and then it was just a steady stream of tears as we continued to text back and forth. It's probably a good thing that she texted me instead of calling because I would not have been capable of talking.

Gracie had been sick for about a month and, based on the latest developments that our friend had shared with me in the days beforehand, I pretty much knew what was coming, but I was not at all prepared for how upset I would be when it happened. Our friend had first taken Gracie to an avian vet about a month earlier and had an x-ray done so that they could figure out what was going on. An egg had broken inside of her little body, so they prescribed her a couple of medications to help her expel the egg from her body. Gracie started to get better, but then started to get much worse. Another trip to the vet confirmed that something very serious was going on, so our friend had to make the difficult decision to say goodbye to her and to put Gracie to sleep.

The beautiful bird that gave life to our sweet, funny, curious, smart, affectionate, talkative Belle is gone. 💔 😢 It is amazing how much Belle looks just like her mama.

R.I.P. sweet Gracie (2017 - July 6, 2020)

Our attachment to pets is a remarkable thing. I remember my mom recounting to me as an adult how much she had cried when our childhood budgie, Beau, died. I don't actually remember how much my mom cried, but I do clearly remember that day and what happened as we stood helplessly in the kitchen and watched. I also remember burying him next to the house in a box. I think that my mom cried even more when her beautiful 18-year old Himalayan cats, Buddy & Holly (brother & sister), both died within a short time of each other, the second one probably from the heartbreak of losing the other one.

Gracie wasn't even my pet and yet I am heartbroken over the loss of her life. I guess it's because she was Belle's mama and Belle is the first pet that I can truly say is mine (well, ours... mine and Hal's). I grew up with pets in the house (birds, cats and dogs), but I wasn't the one who took care of those animals on a daily basis. They were family pets, but my parents were the ones who made sure that they had food and water, bought toys for them, noticed when they weren't feeling well, took them to the vet, etc. I wasn't even living at home for the entire lives of most of those pets. I definitely loved them and missed them once they were gone, but there is just something very different for me about having Belle as a part of our family. We absolutely adore Belle and I cannot imagine having to say goodbye to her. So, for the first time in my life, my heart truly breaks at the reality of a friend losing their precious pet because now I understand just how much they become a part of our lives and our families and how much we love them.

We adopted Belle in May of last year, when she was 57 days old, and Hal recently decided that he wanted to one day reunite Belle with her mama for a visit. We were waiting to get a car so that we could do that, but I guess that we were a little bit too late... Gracie died the same day that we bought our car. 😢

Rest In Peace, sweet Gracie. Your memory lives on in Belle and in the other beautiful babies to which you gave life. 💕