Getting Ready

Today is Father's Day... it is also the day I must take my African Grey Parrot (inherited from my father in 2003) to the bird sanctuary where he is to spend the next 4-6 weeks while I head off to the Southwest. I tell myself that this is best - that he will enjoy the other birds and excellent care there, but of course my heart never listens to rationalizations. I struggle with the fear that he will feel discarded or abandoned. I wonder if he will like or fear the presence of the huge Macaws and Cockatoos that live there. I wonder if he will show off his repertoire of bird calls, songs, and vocabulary... or if he will feel shy and overwhelmed...

There is no other choice for now as my airplane passage is booked and people await me, but it is hard to leave a creature who cannot understand being left behind - especially knowing he has had others leave and never return. I know the people who run the sanctuary absolutely love birds and are very knowledgeable so he will be safe and well looked after, but I can't help but wonder how he will take my absence... and that he was my father's bird and today is Father's Day has me feeling all the more conflicted.
The only thing that helps at all is knowing that he is God's bird even more than my own, so I must trust that this will enrich his life in ways I cannot yet know... and perhaps my trip will begin a life for us both in sunshine and warmth come fall!