Written by Madelyn's Owner: "I have had an Amazon parrot since 1985. She was a wild-caught bird; that was back in the days when it was legal to do so and we really didn’t know any better. I tamed her and trained her myself. We were madly in love. I named her Madelyn, despite the fact that I had no idea whether she was male or female. "I am actually writing this on Christmas day. And Madelyn just died. "I have no idea why. She was fine until the day before yesterday and she went fast. But this isn’t a medical or veterinary comment; it is a tribute to a bird that I dearly loved. "Madelyn used to have a place at our dinner table. I remember back to about 1986, and I remember my oldest daughter setting the table for dinner. She would put a place for her and me (I was a single mom), and a place for Madelyn. No flatware but Madelyn had her plate and she sat on the table and dined with us every night. Her favorites were spaghetti and pizza, but she would eat anything we ate. "When I initially got her, I was still working in the field of nursing. I would come home from work to yells of, “hi,” or “hello,” or the heartiest laughter you ever heard. She went through a phase where I couldn’t keep her in her cage for love or money. The normal cage lock she figured out within a few days. I bought her a new cage with a sturdier latch, and that only took a couple of weeks. So I went to a combination lock. My thinking was that I wouldn’t have to worry about losing a key and there was no way she could undo it. "Wrong! "She eventually figured out the combination lock. I will never know how. I have heard theories that they can hear the tumblers and I have heard theories that they just simply learn the numbers. All I know is that I would come home from work and Madelyn would be running around my apartment, having the time of her life. I eventually put a key padlock on the cage and that did solve the problem. I took that lock off today for the last time. "I have so many memories of Madelyn that I could write a book. Maybe someday I will. The most important memory though, is the one I am going to share right now. When my second daughter was born, about five years after Madelyn and I paired up, Madelyn fell in love again. This time it was with my baby girl. She adored her. She would do anything it took to get out of her cage so she could walk around the perimeter of her playpen and play with her. "It was amazing to see how gentle she was with my second daughter. Madelyn pretty much traded me in for her and the loss of this pet, this wonderful companion, that my daughter has known all of her life, is just about killing her. And it’s Christmas. "I don’t have anything to offer but sharing our pain and knowing that shared pain is alleviated pain. We are all hurting pretty bad over here. Please pray for my daughter as this is just not a loss she should have to endure today."