Dexter's "Great Escape" May 2025

Dexter's Great Escape story. (Let's have some fun with movie titles). This tale has a happy ending like lots of movies, but it includes several harrowing moments. 

Many of us remember the 1963 movie, "The Great Escape". That title sounded good in the subject line, but as I had time to process those few days, I decided to switch the title of Dexter's story to: 

"The 4 days of the Conure" (Dexter was gone from Sunday to Wednesday)

Anybody remember the 1970s movie, "3 Days of the Condor"? I wanted to chronicle Dexter's May 2025 adventure, and needed a name. And a play on words. This was a 1975 spy movie with Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, and Max von Sydow. I remember that movie well because I was working as a spy for Navy Security in those years and we knew the Russians knew where we lived. But that commentary is for another time. This story is about our Conure parrot Dexter!

I'm gonna (sic) say that Dexter's May 2025 story is even MORE exciting than the movie! It was kinda (sic) like a Roller Coaster, but not. You can see what's coming on a roller coaster ride, but we didn't see any of this coming. Plus, we went through a terrible set of physical and emotional experiences for several days. And now, Dexter's story:

         Sunday May 25

We enjoyed our regular Sunday activities, but added an afternoon trip to see the movie "Mission Impossible, Final Reckoning". See it in the theatre if you can. Then we came home for our evening routine. But...

7:15 pm

We know to be very careful with Dexter and open doors/windows. But, it only takes one mistake. (I hadn't told Ellen, but a couple of years ago Dexter was on the other side of the den when I opened the patio door. He quickly flew to me and then PAST me outside. But, that time he turned right around and came back inside.) Whew!

This time we weren't so lucky.

1st: Autopilot search mode:

Dexter flew over the roof of the house towards the front yard. I saw it happen and went to the front yard but didn't see him. We both scoured the surrounding streets, calling and calling and calling. No luck. We jumped right into auto pilot mode, yelling at all the trees nearby. We hoped he would be waiting for us in a nearby tree.

Then the shock started to settle in. We ranged between tears to numbness. So many fears to process. Most of the possible outcomes were "not good". 

Of course, we couldn't eat and couldn't sleep. Awful night.

         Monday May 26

Didn't sleep much at all; still couldn't eat. I think it's hard to understand these feelings of loss unless you've been through something similar. We walked the neighborhood, calling out, and put a cage in both the front & backyard. They say your parrot won't recognize the outside of your house, but they will recognize their cage, so we put food and water in the cages, just in case.

Friends started recommending various "Lost bird" pages, so we got to work on that. I'm now a member of several online Lost Bird/Pet groups.

Went to the office for some work, and printed a bunch of flyers. Next, came home to knock on doors and let people see Dexter's photo. Most people were very nice; only one guy wouldn't even take the flyer. Weird. But one couple called us; the wife turned out to be an old client who had relocated to our neighborhood. The husband said we could come into their backyard to look, so we jumped on that chance. He even recorded us calling out to Dexter, and said he would play our voices on his phone if they saw a parrot. Very nice!

Of course Monday night was awful again. We were trying to be hopeful, but now we were loosing hope.

Another sleepless night. It was hard to eat anything at all

         Tuesday May 27

We both had Tuesday clients at the office, but got up early to keep calling out in the neighborhood.

On the way home we visited Adventures in Birds where we got Duncan in 1994 and Dexter in 2019. I asked Jean the owner what were our chances to find Dexter, and she held up her hand to show a big, fat Zero %. Now that's a sobering realization! Our emotions where all over the place. But we still couldn't think about "closure".

Was it like a roller coaster? No, because you can see where the roller coaster is going. We had no idea what was coming next. We were still mostly numb mixed in with lots of sadness, both for us and for Dexter. There were so many possible outcomes - most of them not good (and getting worse).

Still couldn't sleep well, and didn't want to eat. 

The word that finally stuck was "Abduction." It felt like someone had taken Dexter away but wouldn't even let us pay a ransom. The situation was out of our control and we may never see him again. Yikes!

Next, we had to start telling people what happened. Dexter is VERY popular at the office. Now I had to start telling a bunch of clients who are "Dexter’s friends" that he was missing and may not be there during their next therapy session. Those were some very tough calls to make. I texted folks, "I can't talk about it right now."

Several of Dexter's friends gave us some good advice about other Lost Bird sites - We were learning this happens more often than anyone would like.

Then our friend and realtor Lou Gorski suggested a "General Facebook" post. I thought, "Gosh that's not specific enough. Dexter's got to be close by." Thank goodness I listened to Lou! Oh, and lots of people put Dexter on their prayer list.

Speaking of prayers, back in the mid 1990s, I heard about two groups of people with the same chronic (and mostly fatal) disease who were part of a study. One group was prayed for (but didn't know) and the other group was not prayed for. The group who received unknown prayers had a much better health outcome. So, we started doing weekly "prayer requests" in our Sunday school class. Fast forward to Dexter's escape, and he got a LOT of prayers from several different prayer groups!

         Wednesday May 28

Of course we had another terrible night, but got up and searched the neighborhood again.

Ellen started her 9 am Virtual Training session with Carl Lewis. She was in the dining room working out with Carl, and I was in the living room searching Next Door and Facebook threads...

About 9:10 am Estrella A made a Facebook post about finding a Conure. I gave her my cell number, and she called. We switched to Face time and there was Dexter on her husband's shoulder! I started crying, and then Ellen heard me crying. When she realized we might have found Dexter, SHE started crying... Poor Carl Lewis was looking at an empty Zoom call. (He wasn't upset with Ellen, because he's a fan of Dexter, too!)

I dashed out the door carrying Dexter's transport cage (still in my pajamas like I was running to the convenience store), and drove more than a mile away! Oh, Dexter had also weathered a bad  nighttime thunderstorm during his adventure. 

Estrella's family lives in a gated complex about a five minute drive from us. We would have never been able to get a flyer to them. I couldn't stop sobbing. They wouldn't take the reward money, but I have since Zelle'd the money to Estrella. I'm also thinking Dexter will send her a Christmas gift later this year! What do you think? You really can't put a dollar amount on a loved one, not even a family pet.

By 9:45 am we were reunited with Dexter! They said he blew in about 6 pm Tuesday night. He made it through at least one thunderstorm! Estrella said they called him "The fighter", and gave him water and fruit. How fortunate we were that Estrella looked at that Facebook thread. 

We were all exhausted. Dexter could barely keep his eyes open, but he was so glad to see me he couldn't snuggle any closer on my neck. Ellen gave him the best bird hug ever!

We all finally got some sleep, and took Dexter to ABC Birds in Sugarland for a checkup. Dr. Roset said he was mostly suffering from exposure, but their tests indicated good health.

So, we thank everyone for their prayers. Now, Dexter gets another old movie title  as part of his story: From 1956, "Somebody up There Likes Me."

    Epilogue:

Oh, "Dexter's Great Escape" even got us a new client! The week after his adventure, a new client came in and said she was referred "by Dexter". Turns out she had seen the posts on Next Door (which has a link to www.MassageTherapyHouston.com) Yet, another blessing!

I've been adding to this story for about a month, and can tell you that now every time we look at Dexter, we realize just how fortunate we are. Now, every day with Dexter is special. So, how do you get through?  As Captain Taggart said in the 1999 movie, Galaxy Quest, "Never give up! Never surrender!"

As I finish writing the story of Dexter's great escape, he is snuggling next to my hand. Right now, we are all in a happy place.

PS Of course, Dexter is named after the Showtime character, "Dexter Morgan".

PPS "No A.I. was used in the writing of this story"