R.I.P. Rica

I just found out that our little bird Rica passed away today. :(

I feel a little weird about this news because Rica and I always had a love hate relationship. Hubby got the bird as a birthday gift when he was 16 years old (yes I too thought this was a weird birthday gift for a 16 yr old boy but he LOVES birds so stay with me). His Aunt got him the bird who was a baby when he got her so they quickly formed a cute little bond.

When it was time to go off to college hubby refused to leave the bird with his mom so he took her to college. There's been tons of cute and funny stories involving Rica before I even had the chance to meet her. She was pretty domesticated so she didn't fly high or away whenever hubby left her out. She did try to make a run for it once and ended up really high in a tree and hubby had to climb up there and take his time getting her back.

Once hubby and I got together her time with him was limited and Rica HATED me for that, I mean HATED me with a passion. Every time I went to feed her or clean out her cage she tried to peck at my hands. I was SOO sweet and nice to her and continued to try to bond with her but she could care less. I had to put on a glove before sticking my hand in her cage. She never actually pecked me and I'm sure it wouldn't have been painful but I thought that was awfully rude of her to peck someone who was being so nice and taking care of her but of course I understood that she was a little jealous or annoyed that I took away her time with hubby.

When we had kids she REALLY HATED me and shared the same sentiment for the kids despite them really trying to bond with her. She did eventually warm up to them (a little) but NEVER to me. Whenever hubby let her out to clean up while I was in the same room, she'd fly up and try to attack my head.

Needless to say I was a little irritated with her after a while. I couldn't bond with her and I'd given up trying. I just made sure she was fed and given water and her cage was clean and that was it. To my defense there were times she probably would've kicked the bucket earlier because hubby had totally gotten over his "love" for birds. One time hubby had the bright idea of leaving her in the garage to live when we move to a much bigger house while living in Cali. I didn't object since by this time the hate part of a relationship was at an all time high, I know, it's mean of me, please don't judge me. Anywhoo, I came home one day and noticed that her head was cocked to one side and she was no longer chirping so I moved her inside. The very next day she was back to her old self. Did I get any sort of appreciation from Rica?! No!!! She still tried to peck me. :/

Anywhoo, when we got orders to Hawaii we couldn't take Rica because Hawaii's pretty strict with letting animals on their island and her plane ticket would've cost the same as ours (I know ridiculous right?) so we asked one of hubby's friends to watch her for us until we could bring her over. Fast forward over a year later and Rica's fate is grim.

So this is my good bye to Rica. She lived for 18 yrs!!! Wow, that's a lot for a little birdy. Even though we weren't with her physically at the time of her departure, we never forgot her and never will.

Farewell dear Rica. You will be missed. Not necessarily by me, oh who am I kidding, I'll miss the little bugger. :(