R.I.P Tweety

This is, or was, Tweety.
We got Tweety for Betty back about six years ago. Betty has always had birds and when we got the opportunity to get a bird, I thought it would make her feel a little more at home.
Tweety never liked me.
She would fuss, holler and carry on so much when I was on the phone (it didn't matter to her who I was talking with) that frequently I had to go to another room. When I tried to be nice to her, she would threaten to bite me. Nearly succeeded a few times, too. We would put her cage outside on nice days, and then keep an eye out for the neighbours cat. In the spring we moved her cage to stand near the patio door, in the living room, so that she could see all of us and interact with everyone that came through the place. Our patio door became our main entrance, and everyone would say hello to Tweety. Jimmy taught her to sing, and somehow she learned how to make noises like our phone when we called out. It got so frequent that for the longest time I thought Jimmy was calling all his friends, and it turned out to be Tweety beeping like the phone!
She was a character, our Tweety.

Last night, at 1 in the morning, Tweety passed away from, what we believe, was a heart attack.
She was sitting on her perch watching t.v with me, occasionally retrieving a mouthfull of seed, when she started singing very softly. I called it "singing to herself" it was so low key. She would often do it at night while we watched t.v. Last night she did it again, and I thought nothing of it. Then I heard a small thump and scratching on the bottom of the cage. I stood up to peek into the cage, thinking she was goofing around as she did from time to time. But she was on her back with her wings stiffening and opening, repeatedly. I called Betty from across the room to come look, tell me what was going on, but by the time she had crossed ten feet, Tweety was gone.
Her eyes closed and her feet clenched, our beautiful feathery family member was gone.

I confess, I'm a little surprised how much I miss her. Shandon has been crying all day and I get choked up when I think about how empty her cage is now. Strange, I didn't expect this much emotion for a bird. She was just a bird, right?
No, she fit right in here.
Colourful, loud, opinionated, dramatic and very out there.
Yup, she was one of us, and we'll miss her.

Fly free, Tweety.