A peony growing in our Garden last summer

“Mom, are we going to be able to keep Chocolate forever?”   I heard this coming from the backseat of the car yesterday from my eight and three year old.  And so, the discussion about forever began.

“We will keep him for as long as we can.  We are lucky to have him.  As he gets older, I am not sure if he will get noisier or mean.  Right now, I am so happy that we have him.  I think that we should just enjoy him for as long as we can.  I’m not sure how long it will be.”

My three year old then asks,”Can we keep all the other chickens?”

I replied, “Yes.”

Then I heard, “How long are the chickens going to live?”

“I know that some chickens can live to be twenty but most live for about 4 or 5 years.  Everything dies at some point.  Nothing can live forever.  When they die, they’ll go to the Rainbow Bridge where we can see them again.   I’m sure they will try to live as long as they can.”

Foxglove, Rhododendron and Catmint in our Garden last summer

“How long are you going to live?”

“I am going to try and live a very long time.  I hope to be 100 some day.   My Greatgrandma lived to 101!”

“Does everything die?”

“Yes, some things live a long time and some things live a short time like the plants in the garden.”

“I wish the chickens and us could live forever.”

“I agree, forever would be nice….”