Chicks…
June 13, 2013
There are 13
of them in front of me at this current moment… It is 6pm on a glorious Los
Angeles evening… The air is cool like an East Coast Fall day. School is out for
the summer and I am sitting at my desk (aka the dining room table) observing the
estrogen dancing on the deck through the glass doors.
Let me break
it down for you:
THERE ARE 7
LITTLE GIRLS: 2 nine year olds, 2 five year olds, 1 six year old, 2 two year
olds, 5 three week old baby chickens…and 1 feline pacing waiting for a chance
to attack...(not me…our
cat Roxy)...
Regardless
of their species, they are all animals. I am a girl and I still do not
understand them.
They have
decided to have a dance party celebrating the end of school… the little girls
are mimicking the moves of the baby chicks.
Their
laughter is contagious…they are pure joy… and then someone screams and jolts me
back to another reality… it is like the matrix…different realities all going at
the same time. Today I am moving gracefully between them all… the tears don’t
phase me… the screams don’t phase me. I remind myself that this is life, the
pain… the joy…
Something
silences them and they call for me…
“Mommy,
Mommmy… come quick….the chicks are all ganging up on “Butterscotch” (our littlest
chick).
I laugh to
myself at the irony of these little girls, beside themselves at the pecking
order and family dynamics going on between the chicks.
I have questioned
myself many times since the chicks arrival… WHAT WAS I THINKING???
Sanity
check… like I needed any more poop to clean up!
However,
here in this moment, as I watch my girls learning so much from our five newest
additions learning to get along… I am in love with these cute chicks! I listen
to the girls talk amongst themselves and to the chicks, “you must not hurt your
sister… you will feel better if you take care of her…” as she pushes another
kid out of the way to get a better vantage point.
At what
point do they learn that if your gonna do the talk you gotta do the walk?
The chicks
are learning to fly and I see them flutterring away from the grasps of sticky
hands and kids all up in their business.
“Be gentle
with them…” someone yells.
“Listen to
her...she is telling you she wants to get down… listen and you will here what
she wants!” as the chicks are tweeting away frantically.
These five
little chicks arrived in our home three weeks ago at a day old (I wanted to
make sure no Roosters were included…)
A day old
and already away from their Mom's…two were from one home, two from another and one
from another. We have watched them navigate their first three weeks on their
own and create a family unit.
My girls
have assumed the role of Mother hen and I find it quite amusing as I watch them
explaining the game of life and how to play it to these tiny little chicks (who
are probably thinking, “HELP I’VE BEEN TAKEN BY AN ALIEN!”)
“Lets all
take a walk and clear our heads…” I hear these words and shift realities… Who
said that?
I look out
on the deck and see the human girls all in a line. They are attempting to
wrangle the chicks to follow their lead…
“It’s
important to let each go their own way…” The nine year olds are attempting to
share their years of experience with the little one’s…
“Watch…
some will lead and some will follow…”
The humans
stop the line dance and sit… the chicks all scurry about as the humans simply
sit and observe…
Just
as I am doing…
Observing,
listening and learning so much…
