Goodbye chicken

Genevieve turned three yesterday and celebrated pretty hard all day long. Went down with a bang and the biggest tantrum ever, wall kicking, daddy kicking and everything. Poor Daddy, it was his birthday too! (He had a good one anyway). I guess it is hard saying goodbye to friends, sugar, and getting presents all day long.

 Today Yeek, the girls favorite cuddly chicken showed signs of no turning back. She has been ill for a few days now, doesn't move much, her eyes are looking gray. Jacinta noticed that her "sounds" have changed. She doesn't look happy anymore. But we haven't seen her out for a few days. She hides somewhere alone and turns up when it's time to roost. Today Yeek came out from under the house when Jacinta came out the door. Jacinta proudly picked her up and cuddled her. She knows Yeek is very ill. Lovingly she placed Yeek on the grass. We sat and petted her for a while, and fetched Genevieve to come out and say hello. After a few minutes Yeek closed her eyes and dropped her head. I have never watched anyone die, but thought this was it. Jacinta got scared and wondered what was happening. I told her that perhaps Yeek had come out to tell us goodbye.

We called Matt out to join us and all sat around our favorite chicken, the survivor of the rooster and turkey attack, the cuddler, the runt. Jacinta cried pretty hard watching Yeek "pass" while Matt held her. Genevieve asked me why there were drips coming off my face. The girls doted on Yeek for the next hour. Jacinta's tears dried up when she decided to go and fetch Yeek some sunflower seeds. The fire was going on the veranda, I was cooking potatoes and Matt cooking sausages so we all stayed outside with Yeek. It was hard for Genevieve to leave her in peace. Both girls were good at chasing the other chickens away and let Yeek be. She opened her eyes from time to time, even stood up and eased herself back down, looking around uncomfortably. After a while, Yeek stood up and teetered back to the chook pen, as all good chickens do when the sun goes down. So Yeek may live another night. Yeek won't live much longer, but at least she allowed us to send her off in love.

As we were packing up the hammocks and getting ready for bed, Genevieve asked what "sick" is. She was confused about how she could be sick with a cold and Yeek could be sick and "come to say goodbye." Our friend has a daddy who is sick and dying. Innocently Genevieve commented, "Well I won't get to go to swimming lessons Mommy." I asked her why not. Swinging on the hammock, matter of factly, though a bit hesitant she replied, "Well because I'll be dying." Ohhhhh! I was happy to explain the difference between simple illnesses and those you can't cure. I may not have mentioned how much she hated swimming lessons and how many excuses she could come up with, but dying! Dear me. I think she would prefer swimming lessons over that! But even big three year olds don't understand death.

Whispering, Jacinta assures Genevieve (and herself) that we can get a new chicken "when Yeek passes" and call her Yeek. Genevieve likes that idea. They joke about how nice it would have been had Yeek left us some chicks behind.

That's all, no nice closure, just a story of what's going on today (besides what I should be doing right now...studying!)

Love you all, Shana

By the way, we bought 2 little chicks as pets at the market yesterday. One is called Little Yeek. Big Yeek is still hanging on :)