In 1973, at the age of thirteen, I purchased Johnathan,(a Blue Fronted Amazon who had the most beautiful eyelashes ever),with my hard earned babysitting money. Johnny was the second longest relationship that I have had in my life to date, falling second only to my mother. He was a part of my life before high school, boyfriends, marriage and children, and through all of his years with me he helped raise all my four and two legged children. John and I had a deep bond. I raised him from a baby and John thought of me as "his" mother. I saw Johnny as a signifant part of my life and a friend that was just always there with me. He had been with me through every day of my life since I was thirteen years old, having lived in every home I have ever lived in, having experienced every Papillon I have ever owned, and to boot he was a good conversationalist in a quiet room. In his early years, twenty years old or younger, John had a diverse vocabulary and was very accurate in mimicking individual voices, answering machines, barking dogs, alien and chicken sounds, and he did one heck of a rendition of Old McDonald Had A Farm! Oh, I forgot to mention that Johnny was Italian I'm sure,( he loved spagetti) and he loved Patsy Cline music, especially "Crazy". He would sit on his perch and sway back and forth like Stevie Wonder humming along with the music. I'm not kidding. He did! Wasn't he just the best!?

As a young girl I remember trying to teach him to say the word "hello". He was stubborn and non responsive. I would say "John, if you want an M&M, say hello". Needless to say John's first words was not hello rather, "Do you want an M&M!" John loved to tell me "I lovvvvvvvvvvvvvve you!", his pupils would constrict to a pin point with excitement, his pin feathers on his head would ruffle up and he would say it all as he gently swayed on his perch. Once of my favorite things he did is he would rotate and contort his head around to scratch the top of his own head and ears. He loved to chatter on with the likes of "Hello Pretty Bird", "Bye!", "Go to your beds!(to the dogs....and he meant it!!), Sccrrrrrrraaatch, Momma Sccrrrrrrraaatch", "Bad, Bad, Bad, Birrrrrd!" and much, much more! With our children raised and as we both aged the stimulation of a busy home with kids grew quiet John didn't speak as many of his infamous phrases, and would often just pass his days tilting his head to one side and spend good, quality time scratching his head or shredding wooden clothes pins or his toys.

After Johnny and I had successfully raised "our" two children, like previously mentioned, the house fell quiet from the noise that two children underfoot can make. As the years passed John began share a special gift with me and it was only then that I began to refer to him as my "time machine". It was something he would only share with me in our quiet, special times together, usually with me at my computer or reading a book; Johnny usually sunning while looking out his window, or scratching the top his head. Over the years, usually during the quiet moments of a day I would hear John like a distant echo from the past, begin to quietly mimic the "sounds" of his life. From out of no where would come the childlike voices of my two children calling out "Mommy", or the sounds of my little girl's giggle, or her laugh, or the special phrases each of them used to say to me when they were young. Just hearing the beautiful sound of my children's innocent childhood voices again would make my heart burst and flood the moment with beautiful memories. For one more moment in time I could once again re-live my motherhood and have "my babies" back again; then reflect on just how quickly those years of their childhood had passed and how precious those years really were to me. I always saw this as such a beautiful gift given to me by my dear friend John.

In reflection, John also loved to bark. Imagine that!In the times John would choose to shake off the cobwebs of time and go back into his archive of sounds he would begin to bark, yes bark. John had three very distinct barks. One of his barks would tell me my dogs were barking in the yard outside, the other two were the unique and special "voices" of Rasin H and Penny, my first two Papillon girls. I was once again blessed with hearing the barks of dear cherished friends 20 + years gone. When I would hear John barking like one of the girls, whatever I was doing I would stop, and call out to them by name saying, "Hello Raisin, how are you sweetie? I love and miss you", or "Hello Penny, we love and miss you. Are you still my dear, sweet girl?". Beautiful memories of these cherished pets would always flood back in, and a never failing a lump would rise high in my throat. What a special gift.

Johnny had been a significant part of my life, a friendship spanning across three decades of my life giving pure and simple meaning to the phrase " a life long friend". However unrealistic, I came to believe he would always be with me. For thirty three years he had out-lived all of my other pets. His passing was so emotionally painful for me that I felt as if I had lost a dear, and special "human" friend, and in reflection I really have. It is not often the animals in our lives speak the same language we do. In mourning his passing, I also had to grieve the loss of the beautiful sounds and "voices" of my life that a cherished feathered friend chose only to share with me. Just knowing that I will never hear those beautiful words and sounds again in itself is a great loss. The beautiful voices of my two children as babies calling out to me are forever silenced but for my memories. The distant barks of two cherished and loved butterflies now painfully quiet. With Johnny's death I knew that all these wonderful moments we had shared over our years together were special, and as he mimicked the sounds of his life, only now in the silence, do I realize that he mirrored the sounds of my life as well. All the beautiful sounds left with him. Oh what a special boy my Johnny was. His empty cage now a reminder of years of incredible joy and companionship, and now incredible loss.

"Rest in peace my dear friend, my sweet, sweet Johnny..... please wait for me on the other side of Rainbow Bridge and greet me with the beautiful, precious sounds, that as friends, we shared in our life together.
I miss you deeply, deeply, deeply. And Johnny, until my very last breath
"I lovvvvvvvvvvvvve you too!" I will never forget you.
You were simply the best.
My Deepest Love Always,