Two years and one day ago I drove three hours to a gas station to meet the truck that would deposit Quan into my waiting arms. We met at 4am.

At 5:30 this morning, I got a text from Bobby.

I don’t know for which I was more grateful–Bobby or the full mailbox that allowed his message to reach me before next month sometime. I’d spent the evening before lamenting* the probable demise of my chickens and sketching the adolescences of which I’d deprived them.

Two years and one day ago, I took Quan back to my motel room and went back to sleep with a promise that we’d get to know each other in the morning as he relentlessly licked my face. This morning, Bobby buzzed me into the business side of the post office and brought a box of chirping two day old chicks to my car. At home, I tiptoed past kids’ rooms and released my five sweet babies into their cardboard box. Then I made the kids wake up so we could look at them together.

I’d like to introduce you to the newest members of the Miller-Barber-Al-Qadaffi household.

Effie is a shy one. She was the last of her siblings to venture out from the heater to pursue food and water. Rumor has it** she wants to be best friends with Veronica. Effie was almost my youngest child’s name, after my great-great-grandmother Euphemia.

Edie is named after a kitten I once had named Eddie who was named after Eddie Vedder. When my cat had kittens our parents told my brother that he could pick one to keep. Regrettably, he chose Ivy and renamed her Claire. In her statuesque and captivating demeanor, Edie is not unlike the Mona Lisa

Lilac loves being near her Buff Orpington big sister, Pheonix even though sometimes they get in each other’s way. She’s sweet, smart, and layered. I look forward to experiencing all of her complexities.

I am not squeezing Phoenix here, as much as she’d like you to believe. She’s just very athletic! Phoenix is outspoken, but only when she wants to be. Lilac and Phoenix were both named by Ella.

Last but not least, Veronica. Aubrey chose Veronica’s name and I to give it to our lone White Silkie Bantam a la Heathers. Like Aubrey she’s curious, clever, and clumsy. She spent most of the morning with one foot in her water dish.

*lamenting=sobbing into Amir’s shoulder as he rather masterfully soothes me (just one example of why I’m marrying him in three days)

** Ella tells me

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