54.

Poppy went blind eight days ago. She’s almost ten now, which is very old for a chicken. She needs help to eat and to stay safe. I don’t know whether to put her down or not. If she can find her way to the food bowl on her own, she could still be relatively independent. She still preens and eats grass and walks around the yard. But she’s vulnerable to predators now, and that scares me. We can’t watch her every minute of every day. It would break my heart to lose her to a racoon attack.

What happened with Jonah doesn’t seem important now that I’m looking after Poppy. I realized I’ll either forgive him or I won’t. I’ll heal or I won’t. Our relationship will work out or it won’t. But Poppy doesn’t have very long to live. Nothing else matters much to me right now.