Envision a singular egg placed on the palm of your hand. The silk circular smooth surface stroking the crevice of your manus. The arduous work of a chicken is just within a few inches from your fingertips. So much life held in one hand. Such a lively creature instilled in a singular egg. The life stage of a newborn chick begins where it becomes a part of the vulnerable tapestry of the circle of life.
    Ovulation in a hen takes place every 24 - 26 hours with the help of a rooster’s fertilization. It takes 26 hours for an egg to develop inside the dark walls of the shell. It usually takes 20 - 21 days for an egg to hatch. The growing embryo is sustained with plenty of food supported by the yolk and albumen. The albumen acts as a pillow against shock for the flourishing embryo’s water sac. The baby chick takes its first puff of air from the air cell at the edge of the egg. The worn out chick is then met with their enthusiastic mother who is ready to start teaching them the basic skills any chicken should know.
    Picking grains, foraging, and searching for food the recently born chicken must learn quickly. The mother assists the chick during its training period. A mother hen will ensure that her brood is kept warm in the midst of the dark nights where predators lurk in the shadows. A mother’s instinct, she stays on track keeping accountability for each of her chicklings; nurturing and feeding them all throughout the day. After travails of faults and halts and the teaching of her mother, the chick is now ready to join her brethren with the flock of her ancestors. Prancing and dancing in the pasture, flowering into a beautiful hen she must do without the aid of her mother.
    In dogs, the mother carries the fetus inside her womb. She endures long lasting stress to accommodate the growing pup that resides within her uterus. Birth is the hardest process in welcoming a new life. The mother pulls and tugs until she lets out her last breath of exhaustion.
    A new face meets her gaze. The warm breath of a mother caressing her infant's delicate face; a born burden placed onto her shoulders, a lifespan of profound responsibilities. Nine vigorous months of pain and nine more vigorous lifetimes of gains for the newly pronounced mother.
    Life stems from the creation of another being. Inside the void of the warmth of a mother, an unborn baby starts to form. Growing day by day night by night until it is ready to meet the beams of light. It squirms and kicks and grows and flips, eager to escape its safe haven. The children are joined at her hip like a flock of chickens, dragging an imaginary umbilical cord tied to their mother.
    Her figure is seen in every generation, upkeeping the stability of the apple from descending from the tree. Her smile fades after every rupture the ax punctures through her sapling. Each leaf sheds every winter and she blossoms new leaves, producing more milk from her sap. She is seen in every family painting protecting the innocence of her young ones, keeping them from the dangers of the world. She withers and her leaves start to diminish one by one as she lays peacefully, watching the baby birds take their leave.
    You are shaped and created by the rib of your mother and the comfort of her womb. Instilled in your heart, the countless memories that are impossible to tally. The antique hands of your beloved mother wrapping your hair into a high sleek ponytail as your scalp longs to be freed. The gentle felt kiss of your mother’s lips on your bruised knee as she sings Sana Sana Colita de Rana, kneading the pain away. The tiny fist of your small infant hand wrapped around your mother’s elongated pinky as you enter the convenience store. The look of love held in just two pools of mahogany tinted irises. Blinded by the love for her children, they can do no wrong in her watercolor eyes. The love of a mother is like none other. She, too, desires the praise she gives to others.