Ethyl Relates: My brother Jim and Sunshine the bird.

Growing old is the pits.  There is just no two ways about it.  But sometimes there can be bright spots that make you feel good in your heart.  My oldest brother has reached the age where so many things are gone from his life.  Youth and vigor have either left entirely or have been greatly reduced.  For years he was a military man, seeing two tours of duty in Viet Nam, being subjected to some of the bloodiest battles of that horrible war, and then for the next twenty five years serving with the police force in Charleston, South Carolina.  He braved the fury of hurricane Hugo, staying on duty during one of the worst storms to ever hit Charleston, braving the elements so that other people might make it out safely. 
He sits in his new leather chair his wife recently bought him and he remembers, and he talks, and sometimes he even cries when he recounts the things he has experienced.  Things no man should have seen, much less have felt and experienced first hand.  Meaningful, useful work is at a premium now, the yard that was once his joy and price in his retirement years has been replanted to be more easily maintained.  The row of beautiful azaleas next to the house have been replaced with plants that don't require as much care.  The roses he grew that were so magnificent a few years ago are now in the process of going back to the earth.
The things he tends to talk about are things of long ago, in a past, that to a big extent, was full of trauma and disappointment, while he has trouble remembering what he did yesterday or if he talked to you on the phone an hour ago.
And so a long hard journey is drawing to a close.  A journey that will eventually be required of us all.  So much of life is over and done with, so many dreams and plans and ambitions are put on the shelf, and each day is a search for some bright spot to find pleasure in, something to make him laugh, something to give him a sense of well being.
And then enters Sunshine.  Sunshine is a bird.  He was introduced into the family a few months ago and since then he has taken over.  Some folks get a dog or a cat to sit in their laps and pet and coo over.  My brother has a bird to sit on his finger and fuss over.  Sunshine has a beautiful singing voice and he has made himself right at home with his new family.  He knows they belong to him, and if a stranger approaches the house, Sunshine has an absolute fit.  If brother steps outside and can't be located for even a short while, Sunshine goes berserk.  Oh, that bird is no shy guy.  He has a personality that is out there.  Cross him and feel the wrath of a peck on your finger, but he is protective and loyal to those he cares about.  And more than anything else, he makes my brother smile.  A happy boy like smile.  And so sweet to behold.  I have not personality met Sunshine, but I have seen his picture and I have seen him perched happily on my brother's finger. 
I talked to my brother a long time on the phone yesterday and we talked about his bird.  I told him the joke about the woman who had a parrot that was in the habit of spewing the most horrible, obscene language, so she went to her preacher and asked him what she could do to teach her baby some respect, and his suggestion was to bring her to him.  He has a couple of male birds that were so perfect, so pure, they were always singing hymns and praying and he thought maybe their good example would rub off on her bad bird.  The idea sounded good to her, so she packed up her bird and took her to the preacher, who took the bad little girl home and put her in the cage with his psalm singing, praying birds.  As soon as she entered the cage, one male bird looked at the other and said , "OK, bud, you can stop praying now.  Our prayers have been answered". 
Brother's  response was the usual when I tell him a joke.  He burst out in laughter.  A few days from now I could probably tell him the same joke again and he would laugh out loud just like he did yesterday.  But yesterday it brightened his day, if only for a few minutes.
Every life needs a little sunshine.  In my brother's case, it comes in the form of a beautiful yellow and gray bird named Sunshine.