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Be Informed and Inspired

Musings: 86 Chickens

Chickens
I used to have thirteen sheep living next door and I loved it - and them.  Then one day - all of a sudden - they were gone.  I was crushed.  A large and enjoyable part of my daily routine was over.  Then I heard the sheep were about to be replaced by chickens - not just a few chickens, but 86 laying hens to be precise.  Yikes!

When the regular structures and routines of my world change in a manner outside of my control, I often struggle a bit with the adjustment.  So, I immediately began envisioning a yard overrun and cramped with dirty, cackling, smelly creatures - unlike the sweet sheep I would regularly visit and talk to.  I felt rather unsettled, to say the least.

In mid- and later life, we face many changes - often unexpected - with regard to our careers, our family roles, our looks, our health, our interests, etc.  We may also feel a great sense of loss in many respects.  A typical response is to find futile ways to dig in our heels to avoid or deny these changes.  There's the sense that life just won't be as good when this change occurs.

Well, we've had our 86 hens next door for about a month now, and guess what - I love them!  They are beautiful, funny, sassy ladies with character and soul.  I talk to them in a very poor and fractured "chicken speak" and enjoy watching them run around, interact with their caretakers, and chase after their food.  I'm also learning a lot about the life, care and feeding of chickens; it's all quite interesting.  How much easier my life would have been had I let myself anticipate that this change might bring a new source of enjoyment, learning, satisfaction, and even joy!  And now the flock has been increased by about a dozen little chicks that were just brought in to lay when the others are moulting.  Joy intensified!

Twenty years ago when I lived in the Washington, DC area, I had little appreciation or connection to animals.  I never expected that now - at age 54 - I would be so in tuned with them.  In fact, as I envision my future, many animals of various types are definitely in the picture in some fashion.  So I hope as I travel my own path through midlife and beyond, with all of its anxiety producing, unavoidable, and uncontrollable change, that I remember the lesson of these 86 - and counting - chickens.  Joy, satisfaction, serenity, happiness, learning - pick your term - comes in many shapes and sizes and in unexpected places, if I just allow myself to remain open and available to receive it.

Bwaaaakkk cluck!