Lyndle Used to Stutter

Every bird in the Whumpington Pet Shoppe talks.

Bad day? Low self esteem? Weary and ready to give up on your Dream?

Make a visit to the Whumpington Pet Shoppe.

Lyndle, the proprietor has just the ticket to raise your spirits.

She has taught all the birds to say just the things we need to hear every day and should be saying to one another:

"You look really pretty when you smile."

"You can do it. You really can."

"I believe in you."

"You have such a good heart."

"You are so much stronger than you think you are."

Lyndle knows all about needing positive feedback. Growing up with a stutter, she was teased mercilessly and not just by other children--by some grown people who ought to know better. The badgering and mocking turned Lyndle into an introverted, bashful, uncertain young lady.  She read her way through school, burying herself in other people's stories to escape the pain of her own.   

Lyndle was an adult when it became painfully clear to her that people were not likely to tell her what she longed to hear.  By this time she was running the Whumpington Pet Shoppe quietly, shyly, unnoticed by most because of her taciturn nature.  It was a murky, gloomy Autumn day when Lyndle had The Idea.  Convinced by experience as well as her own negative self talk that she would never hear from people the words she longed to hear, Lyndle  began to teach the birds to speak.  She taught them only the phrases she wished that someone, anyone would say to her:

"You have such a lovely twinkle in your eyes."

"There is a beautiful, sweet spirit about you."

"Don't worry.  It will all work out, you'll see."

"You can do anything you want to do.  You really can."

And the most remarkable thing happened: in parroting back Lyndle's words to her, the birds never stuttered.

One bright Spring afternoon, as she was helping a dear old woman with a calico kitten Lyndle was stunned to realize that she was no longer speaking in halting, broken sentences.  She had no more stutter.  You see, hearing all the kind words  that she so desperately longed for, from the birds that she herself had taught, had healed Lyndle.  

These days there is a sign hanging above the exit to the Pet Shoppe that reads:

"Listen to the birds. Then go out and sing their song. Someone today needs to hear it."