A hilarious and poignant cautionary tale about two very
different types of creatures, thrown together by fate, who
learn to make the best of a challenging situation -- feather
by feather.
Like many new bird owners, Jenny and Scott Gardiner hoped
for a smart, talkative, friendly companion. Instead, as they
took on the unexpected task of raising a curmudgeonly wild
African gray parrot and a newborn, they learned an important
lesson: parrothood is way harder than parenthood.
A gift from Scott's brother who was living in Zaire, Graycie
arrived scrawny, pissed-off, and missing a lot of her
feathers -- definitely not the Polly-wants-a-cracker type
the Gardiners anticipated. Every day became a constant game
of chicken with a bird that would do anything to ruffle
their feathers. The old adage about not biting the hand that
feeds you -- literally -- never applied to Graycie.
But Jenny and Scott learned to adapt as the family grew to
three children, a menagerie of dogs and cats, and, of
course, Graycie. In this laugh-out-loud funny and touching
memoir, Jenny vividly shares the many hazards of parrot
ownership, from the endless avian latrine duty and the
joyful day the bird learned to mimic the sound of the smoke
detector, to the multiple ways a beak can pierce human
flesh. Graycie is a court jester, a karaoke partner, an
unusual audio record of their family history, and, at times,
a nemesis. But most of all, she has taught the family
volumes about tolerance, going with the flow, and realizing
that you can no sooner make your child fit into a mold than
you can turn a wild parrot into a docile house pet.
Winging It is an utterly engrossing reminder of the
importance of patience, loyalty, and humor when it comes to
dealing with even the most unpleasant members of the family.
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