I'm an unfit bird mother!

I have a great bird named Rupert. Here he is:

I've had Rupert for about 10 years now, maybe longer.

Rupert likes to fly around the room and land on people's heads. His aim isn't really great though. Often, he will fly out of his cage erratically around the room looking for a head to land on, an inevitable lands on the floor, or in the garbage, or in some impossible place. He loves to kiss your lips, and absolutely LOVES cake and cookies.

Today, I dashed off to the grocery store for about 10 minutes. I had opened his cage in the morning to let him come out and say hello, and forgot the back door was wide open. He has never flown outside before.... before today.

When I got home, the house was TOO quiet. Often when I see he's not in his cage, I will just call his name and he will chirp for me to let me know where he is. Today, there was silence. I called all over the house and no Rupert. I called outside... no Rupert. We went into all the neighbor's back yards, and walked all around the block... no Rupert, and no feathers. (There are a lot of cats in the neighborhood.)

After a few hours of searching, I decided I'd better come in and face the music. I did keep going outside every time I heard a bird chirp, though. I'd call his name a few times, but no erratic blue birds came flying.

Finally, the last time I called, I heard a very familiar chirp, but couldn't tell if it was outside or in. I hung out at the back door and called again. Sure enough, there was my bird sitting on some laundry in the laundry room! I KNOW he wasn't in there before- I had searched and searched!

I'm glad he came home, but I don't know why. I wouldn't want me for a bird mother. I leave the cage open and the back door open, and.... and.... what was I thinking?!

I will be clipping his wings from now on so he can't fly away. I'm too scatterbrained to remember to close the doors, so I might as well clip him instead.
I know, I know... why punish the bird for my own faults? Well, he did decide to come home. Maybe this isn't such a bad place after all.