Queen Elizabeth

My sweet Queen Elizabeth has been sick and today she died. She has been my 1/2 wild, 1/2 domestic, crazy, loud mouthed turkey who has been living with us for the past several years. The first time I met her, she walked around me, checking me out as she sized me up- I thought she was going to attack me.....but then she stopped , looked at me and she hooked her long periwinkle blue neck around me and leaned into me, hugging me, I cried my eyes out....and the rest is history.

She would parade her feathers, more like a Tom than like a lady, for anyone who came to say hello to her, whistling and cooing. She would run after Claudine and the dogs like she was a part of the pack..."HOW COULD YOU FORGET ME???" ...she would run/fly/whistle all the while trying to catch up.
I watched her vitality slowly fade out of her, her big personality slowly soften. She has made me so aware of how connected we all really are. She took up so much space, it is hard for me to imagine her as someone's dinner. Just because she isn't human, doesn't make her any less important- her life any less meaningful or deserving of a place. My intention isn't to slam people who eat meat but she was a LIVING BEING, with a heart, and will and a desire to do her own thing, whatever her thing was. Lizzy, was just so fucking awesome....she shared so much with me- she gave me so much and I loved giving back to her, it was an exchange, like every other relationship. She was so amazing.
I used to think we were so blessed to have all of these crazy, affectionate, special animals- but it isn't special or even extraordinary, it is WHO THEY ARE, as individual, sentient, living creatures.- it is what we, both Claudine and me, expect to see in them- their true potential- and then, so it is so. She was a part of our family, my GOD how she will be missed. I love you Miss Elizabeth. I love you.