“I’m sad to say I have no family or children, and being brought up in the 40s life was immensely different to the way it is today. We had very little and were well disciplined, I do not regret that now.
“My family of children is chooks and they are trained, well behaved when out in public, and boundaries are set. It’s a pleasure for me to accept the compliments, along with questions and good general friendly conversation.
“Most people do not believe a chook has the mental ability to learn, and what’s more, enjoy learning things. As a chook’s personality develops and you are aware of the different characteristics, then you will be able to teach them something that will stimulate an interest in them. Teaching chooks is like kindergarten training, short time and no distractions. You need time, patience and love.
“Now, Mrs Chook has made headlines everywhere because of her courageous surfing ability. What’s more she is overjoyed about it. Give her water with strong waves and she can confidently surf them in. Her ocean outings are limited, because of high energy and she needs to be showered quickly, and dried after the ocean. It is either stay home or she goes out in the surf. Forget about any flat water like a lake, river or pool. Mrs Chook refuses to move one step, she glares at me with the look of, ‘take me home right now’. We must learn to tune into their body language.
“Recently, at the usual time of 6.30am Mrs Chook was under my arm and we were tracking our way to the surf, it was a fair way out. There was very little sunrise that morning, it came and went quickly. The sky became darker and suddenly down came the torrential rain. My decision was return home. My chook has a calm personality, never a problem but this particular morning she started crying at a low level, the intensity increased again and again, until it was very high-pitched. She definitely had full emotional needs of surfing in the ocean regardless of the potent weather. So, back to the car, collecting towels and a coat, and with a calmer chook under my arm we briskly headed straight out to the ocean.
“The surf was exceptional. The continuous thunder and the rain faded into the background as Mrs Chook was living her passion. A few surfers were braving the conditions. I must be crazy, what was I doing? This is what you do when you have a child that you want to be happy and Mrs chook was riding the waves like a champion, and couldn’t care less about the weather. I felt the same and that one morning I truly felt a real experience of a Mother’s Love.
“That’s what the power of love is, you do things out of the ordinary that you would not do for yourself, taking on extraordinary lengths, and putting yourself into a situation that you would never normally accept. Just to keep a chook happy and content.
“How’s that for a story? What’s to come in the future? Who knows, we take it a day at a time.
“Thanks for reading my story.”
Photo & Story: Elaine Janes, May 2023.
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