Good Night, Sweet Chicks

What an amazing journey we have been on raising these three little chicks. They grew so fast, as we watched them blossom. We fell in love with them instantly…and watched over them with such pride and love. Now, Henry, Audrey and Stanley have proven to be the best three chicks a mommy could wish for.

 

After one long sleepless night, mommy woke to her little chicks who quickly mourned the loss of their ill-fated pets, but showed a maturity and understanding about the whole experience that showed their true resilience. After a very sad evening with many tears, my children woke with questions and thoughts, “How will I tell my friends?” “Will we get more chickens?” “I wish my chicken didn’t die” “It’ll be okay, mommy, we’ll be okay.”

I let the chickens out around 4pm and just forgot to put them back in the coop. I remembered around 6pm when we were driving home from dinner. The children ran to the coop to see if the chickens were there but sadly they were not...and we all knew what that meant. All three of the children ran to me in tears…daddy tracked down the remains…we had the children say their last ‘goodbyes’ to their loving pets….we had more tears…and lots of hugs and kisses. Mommy told them it wasn’t their fault, that it was a mistake, but as long as we have each other we can get through anything. I held them tightly and told them it would be okay. What else could I do?

It was a very hard evening, but already I have learned how easily young children can heal. Henry is excited about the possibility of picking out new chickens. Audrey is looking forward to showing her new baby chicks to her friends. And Stanley is just happy that his friend Matan is coming over for a playdate after school.

Mommy, however, is exhausted. Exhausted from the worry that comes from loving your children too much. But as I kissed my children goodbye this morning on their way to school, Stanley turned to me and said, “Mommy, I’m happy.” And at that moment, I knew everything was going to be okay.

Thank you to everyone who reached out to me last night and today for comfort. It helped us all to heal in a very real way.  All our love, Happy Thoughts….