Marty the Squeakie-Bird
07/1987 - 03/11/2003
Friend and Companion for nearly 16 years.
Marty and Jennifer
On my 12th birthday my dad handed me a small package and told me that he'd talked it over with Mom and they thought that I was finally old enough to handle the responsibility. I wasn't sure what he meant, so I opened the package. It was a book on how to take care of cockatiels. While comprehension was starting to set in, my step-mother came in the house with a small cage covered with a towel. Underneath that towel, waiting to see me for the first time, was one of the best gifts I've ever received.
I named him Marty after the main character in my favorite movie at the time: Back to the Future. He was such a sweet tempered bird. He loved sitting on my shoulder and snuggling in my hair, and he patiently put up with the many contraptions I built for him such as a "ski lift" from my bed to the dresser and the perch that I hooked up to a remote control convertible BMW so I could drive him around the room.
I saved up all my babysitting money for months to buy my second cockatiel, Jennifer, from a breeder on my next birthday so that he would have a playmate. Even though they bonded strongly and she never really became very sociable, Marty was always happy to see me and spend time with me.
For almost 16 years, Marty has been one of the most consistent parts of my life. He was there through my teenage years, through my crushes and heartbreaks, two years of boarding school (he lived in my school's biology lab), college (once I had my first apartment), marriage, the birth of my son, two cross-country moves and all of my adult life until now. Now that he's gone, it feels like a chapter in my life has closed. If I was holding on to childhood at all, his passing is reality's way of telling me that I'm all grown up now.
The last few years he and Jennifer have spent mostly in the cage together. They were too geriatric to give free run of the house, but Marty always seemed to be interested in what I was doing and would come to see me when I came to the cage. Even though I didn't have as much time to spend with him, having him there singing in his cage every day and just being a part of my life has always made me feel like things would be ok.
Poor Jennifer misses him now, and she's been looking for him, confused as to where he's gone without her. I know exactly how she feels.
Marty, you are terribly missed. Thank you for being my friend. How lucky I am to have had you in my life for so long. Wherever you are now, please know that you are loved always.
