that is Christmas holiday...a few extra boys to make the holiday fun for the one that stays. There has been music, football, games and pop corn in places I would never dream.
Dishes do make it back to the kitchen as I allow them freedom to feed themselves. No toothbrush patrol or bath brigades here. I eavesdrop on laughter and conversation and feel their happiness in the safe freedom I have given them.
It is quiet now in the hour before I leave for work.
I hear the rooster outside my window, discovering the dog food as he calls to his friends, Here! I have found a banquet.
A new calf, on the coldest day, frolics beside her mother, not knowing it's cold for this is the world in which she was born.
The innocence of youth silently sleeps, scattered on pallets, filled with dreams...and I smile with the pure joy of it all.