Today’s Limerick is for Nix

There is something so devastating about loosing your pet. I haven’t even been able to express it to anyone but my family since Nix died at the beginning of April. It has been that hard for me. I got her 5 years ago for free from an antique shop in Monterey, California.

She got me through grad school and all of the hardships of that and the even worse 1.5 years after, the Defense Language Institute and my transition out of the military. She was never deemed “an emotional support animal” but I saw her as that in every sense of the word.

She was always there cooing and flying to me when I needed her most. When I was in college I had another dove named Nell that I never knew was a male until Nix started laying eggs only about 6 months after I got her. She was 2 months old when I got her from the antique shop..!

She was very protective of her nest but always let me near her and and the eggs. She was also with me through the entire year of COVID and we got to spend almost every day together. I really loved that bird! So much so that when I finally settle down and buy some land I want to build a dove coup to keep doves and give them a great life. I just have to figure out how to keep those predators away!

Since Nix died, I went to Barnes and Noble to get a book about Dubai (I swear!) and ended up with a book called Bird Note, which has been amazing. It is based on the podcast where they talk about birds for 2 minutes a day using the huge sound library at Cornell University. It has been my daily companion since.

I have also read the book Spring Migration: a Season the Wind by Kenn Kaufman, which has been very eye-opening. One day I hope to even get into building bird houses to put all over my backyard hopefully in the many trees I will have on my land.

Alas, loosing a pet is very hard and has been constant in my thoughts. I had Nix at a Veterinary Center of America with an avian specialist (Dr. Ford) who was amazing and performed a surgery on her that he had only ever done on ducks and chickens previously. She survived the procedure and was taken medication well. Unfortunately a few days later the scarring on her ventriculus (gizzard) from the surgery swelled and she was unable to pass food through. She went in for a second surgery to bypass the gizzard, and it was shortly after that she died.

I tried everything I could and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

And as the limerick says, she is finally, truly, free and has provided me much comfort these past 5 years.