We are not empty nesters, yet I can clearly see the mom instincts going off as day approaches when we will be. Ms. Tougher than Nails hides her emotions well behind all her awards and medals, but if you look closely it's all a front to a very exposed heart. A few weeks ago CT asked what I thought about getting a hamster. Though I answered within a fraction of a second, "No, we are not getting a hamster" simply based on the thought of the smell. Before you pass judgement of how mean I can be, I could read between the lines of her request, the fear of not being able to mom something. This got the wheels spinning, no not the hamster wheel!
Don't you dare repeat this, but of course I would deal with the smell if I had to. But, instead of a hamster, why not get a pet who is capable of a little more interaction, doesn't need constant care that neither want to give (ie a real pet...bark bark), and doesn't smell? My thought went to pitching the idea of getting a parakeet. Growing up, I had really good luck with a couple very unique birds and even though CT is slightly jumpy when things fly around her head....well, I just won't bring that part up as a possibility until after!
Just like everything, I overthink it. After casually bringing up the idea to CT, thinking it would lead to a bit of a debate, instead it was a rush out the door to go look at birds at the pet store. Can't even guess how long we (really I) looked. Explained how I wanted a male bird also wanted to avoid any birds that resembled prior birds that I had, simply for knowing they would never live up to expectations, oh and had to be doing something cute to make an assumption that if they did something cute in the pet store, of course they would be an entertaining bird at home! I think CT got frustrated with my indecisiveness and listening to all my rules. I struggled with a big jumping out with "Pick Me" written all over. In the end, we left the store with me wanting to think this over more.
Can't believe I made a blog post about not getting a bird with a picture of a bird for the post? How dumb is that? Oh, about as dumb as me leaving the store without a bird in the first place. Three quarters of the way home, CT starts with "I can't believe you didn't get one", "Are you sure you really don't want one?", "I know you want one". Before I knew it, we had turned around and were back in the store looking. The two of us narrowed down exactly the one we wanted. Then as ask the clerk went to catch it, made the comment this one is probably a female, oh wait we mean that one over there!
At the cash register to check-out, a very loud chit-chit-chit-chit! The typical distress call of a parakeet or at least an unhappy one. The checkout person's comment, "Huh, never had one do this before". CT and I locked eyes, smile, yeah this is our bird.
Meet TJ!
No comments:
Post a Comment