Last week while driving home from a lunch with the cousins ..my daughter noticed a field with construction vehicles.
Somehow she remembered that I used to take her to that field.
Hey Mom, she said…wasn’t that a garden center at some point that you used to take me to?
Yes, I said .. there was a place called Waterloo Gardens.
When you were real little I would take you there and shop for plants and show you the animals.
They had small horses that we could feed carrots and local cats and dogs that would wander and a Blue Parakeet.
She remembers the Parakeet fondly as it would out of nowhere say “HELLO” when you walked by.
I remember the giggles I would get from the kids.
Its really quite amazing that a tiny bird would be able to vocally sound like a human.
I don’t remember the birds name but the store was close enough to our house that I could get all three children that were 5 and under in the minivan to a place where they could be distracted long enough to see a “mini” zoo and I could wander the aisles with them.
A respite for all of us and to top it off a quick stop to the local McDonalds a mile up the street where we could get happy meals and perhaps they would be sleepy enough for a nap on the
way home.
For my sanity, I think I frequented that place weekly and sure enough the youngest child who is now twelve remembers the store that is now a field and the blue parakeet that could say “Hello”.
