A New Life

Yesterday I saw a baby goat being born.  No, that sounds so trivial.  I’ll start again…

Yesterday I saw a new life come into this world.  It was remarkable.  It was magical.  It was a gift.

I have never been to the Los Angeles County Fair, never mind the fact that I’ve been living in Los Angeles since 1987.  Yesterday, we decided to take the kids.  You know, actually have a fun, family outing for a change.  We got to the fair and the first thing we went to see was the animal corral.  We saw Yaks!  Who ever sees Yaks?  We saw piglets nursing from their mothers while rolling around in mud.  We saw a mother cow licking her newborn calf and watched as that newborn calf stood up and walked for the first time.  Then, we made our way over to the goats.  And as about 300 people watched, mama goat knelt down on her two front legs, grunted a little and squeezed out a tiny, wet, slimy baby goat.  OMG!  My children watched a new life come into existence.  It was beautiful.  This tiny animal just lay there in the hay while it’s mother went to work.

She didn’t read any books.
She didn’t get any parenting tips.
She didn’t watch any movies.
She just knew how to take care of her baby.

She licked and licked and licked that baby until that baby was clean.

Then she nudged that baby to get it to stand.

Then she nudged that baby to get it to walk.

And it stood up and fell down.  And it stood up and fell down again.  But finally it wobbled on those tiny legs until it could stand next to it’s mother and nursed for the first time.

This is nature.  This is life.  This is what it’s all about.

That sight alone made the Fair worth the price of admission… and food… and games.  Damn it was expensive!

The kids went on rides and we ate funnel cakes… because it’s not really a County Fair without funnel cakes!  Yes, there was whining and complaining and crying.    Yes, it was over 100 degrees and totally miserable.  Yes the kids wandered off and my voice got hoarse from telling them to “get over here”.  But yesterday was something else….

… we saw a baby goat being born!

Amanda and Lauryn - L.A. County Fair

Temera and Carolyn - L.A. County Fair