The "Don't Mess With Anna!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  My wife Carol was sitting next to me when she said, "Barbara posted a neat picture on Facebook."  Showed it to me and I had to laugh as soon as I saw it.

Barbara's finger after an encounter with her parrot Anna!

Barbara is an old friend that we met years ago.  We had been to the island of St. Martin/Sint Maarten many times when we noticed that Barbara, a resident of Sint Maarten, had posted a few messages about her hometown of Williamsport, PA.  Being from Pennsylvania ourselves, we got in contact with Barbara on Facebook and have been friends ever since.  We found that she had visited the island many times years ago and met her husband, Diederick, during one of those visits.  Carol and I made arrangements to meet with her and Diederick during one of our trips and had the best time.  We made quite a few more trips to the island and every time visited with them at their home high in the hills on the Dutch side of the island.  Diederick has since passed away, but Barbara has stayed in touch with us through emails.  Perhaps some day we will have the chance to visit with her once again.  The photograph that Barbara posted today showed her left hand with her middle finger bandaged from top to bottom.  Under her photo read..."When your parrot bites you, and you can give someone the finger and get away with it!"  We had the honor of meeting here parrot, Anna, years ago.  

Barbara and Anna

Quite the lady, so she is!  Talks and talks and never seems to run out of "words" when we visit her home.  I can see how Barbara might have received the bite on the finger.  Just funny that Anna found her middle finger to place the bite on.  If I didn't know better, I'd swear she picked that finger on purpose.  We miss so much not

My wife Carol talking with Diederick and Barbara in Diederick's garden.

being able to visit Barbara and Anna the past few years.  COVID was the culprit at first, than along came some physical problems for me.  We keep on saying we have to get back to St. Martin for another visit and see how Barbara and Anna are doing, but until that day arrives, we will have to rely on emails and Facebook for our meetings with Barbara.  Thanks, Barbara for posting the photograph.  Loved it!  We miss you and Anna so much!  Maybe sometime soon!  Until then we will have to rely on our laptops for long distance meetings.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.