97 years old.

My Aunt Dolly's birthday was yesterday...... she is 97 now. I called her in the morning and asked her if she was going to do anything special to celebrate. She told me "I already did--- I got out of my bed and put my feet on the floor and I can walk without help. At my age, isn't that special enough?"

Aunt Dolly asked me about the chickens. I told her about Scarlett and Prissy sitting in the boxes because their little chicken-brains are telling them Must hatch eggs! Must hatch eggs! I explained to my aunt how I have to keep taking the two hens out of the nesting boxes, trying to de-program their hatching mode. Aunt Dolly reminded me that Grandpa used to raise chickens when she was a little girl and ...the only time Papa picked up a chicken was when Mama needed one for dinner.

I tried not to think of my grandfather killing a chicken so grandma could roast it for a Sunday dinner, but I just couldn't get that thought out of my mind for the rest of the phone call.

Since we've had chickens in our coop, I have not cooked anything with chicken. For Thanksgiving, I did cook a turkey, but I only took one tiny slice of it. I used to make chicken for my husband on a regular basis, but he hasn't been in the mood for chicken since we have our own hens. I think I've got a couple of chicken breasts frozen in the freezer, and they've been there for too many months now. I know we're not going to be eating them, so I should really defrost them and cook them up for Gracie and the cats. Gracie doesn't bother our chickens when they're out in the yard. She chased them at first, but we called her back, and somehow she learned that the chickens are ours and she just sits out there and watches them walking around as they peck in the grass.

Aunt Dolly says she doesn't know how I manage a big house with so many pets...... you have the dog, the cats, the chickens.... and a husband! I reminded Aunt Dolly that she took care of countless nieces and nephews as we were all growing up, and she had a big house too. "That was easy," she told me... "I didn't have a husband underfoot."

My aunt said that she can't believe it when she looks in a mirror these days and "a little old lady" is looking back at her. She said she doesn't feel old, doesn't feel any differently than she felt 30 and 40 years ago, but as soon as she looks into a mirror, she sees "someone who looks like your grandma looked." I told Aunt Dolly that maybe she's just taking too much time now to look at every little bitty wrinkle that has probably been there for a while, but when she lived alone up north she was just too busy to notice.

Aunt Dolly told me that the problem was her new glasses. "I should have just kept my old glasses. With these new ones, I can see everything--- every wrinkle, every line, every crease. Unless I'm going to do brain surgery, I don't need to see everything! I probably wouldn't look so old if I hadn't bought new glasses."

There's some sort of logic in there somewhere.... I just haven't figured it out yet.