A 44 Year Love Affair

In 1965, I was living in student residences at UBC in Vancouver. One day, I saw a beautiful Military Macaw in a pet store and impulsively bought it for $450, a lot of money for a student in those days. I brought my squawking, screaming pet back to Lower Mall Residence and was soon told it had to go. What does a kid do with his parrot in such a situation? Give it to his Mother, of course.

As she often remarked, I did not tell my Mom that I was gifting her with this critter; I just arrived with it at her home near Powell River. The military macaw played a small role in Mother's divorce when I came home for Christmas and her husband told me to "Get out and take your parrot with you". Mom and I and Chico spent the holiday together in a motel and then, since my Mother was a teacher and they were living in a school board house, her husband was the one who had to leave. 

Lillian kept Chico with her during her teaching career in northern BC and retirement in Smithers, but I was Chico's first love, and she remained bonded to me over the years in spite of my Mom's constant care and attention. Chico had a 6'X6'X6' walk-in cage, and Lillian would bring her to the kitchen every morning for breakfast, sharing her toast and egg with the bird and petting her. (Chico began laying eggs, but it was too late to tell her she was a Chica) When I arrived to visit, the relationship changed entirely: Chico would attack my Mom because she wanted only me to handle her - see the above photo of Lillian fending off Chico with a chair. I once took my Mother to the hospital to have a parrot bite bandaged.

Lillian has finally had to move to an assisted living place and Chico is my macaw once again: she has her own room and a similarly huge cage here in Burnaby; I put her out in the chestnut tree for R&R most days. Love consummated at last!