We recently had a very sad experience in our family but if you don’t love pets, you may not want to read any further.
I use the word ‘pet’ loosely, when I really mean ‘loved family member’.
Our loved corella Freddy passed away suddenly last weekend – a massive shock to me and my wife.
Old Mate has been a bird carer, wildlife warrior and pet detective for the past few decades.
She has rescued, returned to owner, rehabilitated native birds and released and nursed some back to health.
If she was unable to find the original owner, we kept a few.
Freddy was among the latter.
Just over 12 years ago, someone reported to Old Mate that there was a sick bird at Caloundra Golf Club.
She rescued him at death’s door.
After the vet did their best, Freddy was nursed back to health and, because the original owner couldn’t be found, he became a resident at our Wurtulla ‘bird centre’.
He and Old Mate became inseparable.
It was like Freddy knew she had saved his life.
He was devoted to her and she to him.
He picked up some of our words (thankfully, not the bad ones) and after a year or so, you could have conversation with him, and he would do a number of tricks when it suited him – pretty cool, as it was on Freddy’s terms.
My favourite, though, was when Old Mate would say, “Do you want a cuddle?” and he would sit on her knee and lean into her. Awesome.
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So, it was a pretty tough week last week, particularly for my wife and my grandson, who also spent hours with Fred, who has left a massive gap in our world.
Usually in this column I have a crack at Old Mate but in seriousness, the work she has done in saving wildlife has been extraordinary.
In my view, Freddy was her reward. He will be with her forever.
It is best described in the last verse of that wonderful poem about the dash, between when you were born and when you passed.
“So, when your eulogy is being read, with your life’s actions to rehash … Would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?”
Fred spent his well.
Robert Louis Stevenson wrote: “Like a bird singing in the rain, let grateful memories survive in time of sorrow.” RIP.
Ashley Robinson is a columnist with Sunshine Coast News and My Weekly Preview. His views are his own.
