Did My Parakeet Write to Me When I Was in College?

Going away to college can be stressful. One family member reached out to me during this stressful time. My parakeet. With a handwritten letter.

Benny had remarkably good handwriting for a parakeet. He must have taken handwriting lessons from my father (while I wasn’t looking) because their handwriting looked remarkably alike.

Benny’s Signature With Feather. (Source: Photo by the Author.)

Benny the Parakeet

I am allergic to dogs and cats (and even hamsters). Keeping bunnies didn’t work out as they had to stay outside. So one day, when I was in my teens, after studying up on birds, I asked for a parakeet.

First, my parents made sure I checked with my pediatrician to make sure it was OK. Dr. Yim had seen me through some terrible asthma attacks, so he gave a cautious answer, but he thought it might be OK. (Dr. Yim later wrote a memoir!)

After the usual discussions, my parents agreed. And so we went to the stores to learn more. We bought a book on taking care of parakeets before anything else. The simple kind of book you found in pet shops — we didn’t have all of these options back then. Finally, we settled on buying a parakeet at Montgomery Ward (of all places).

And thus a parakeet was added to our household. I named him Benny because I loved listening to old Jack Benny routines at…