Two flightless birds huddle together in the distance

  The snow rips through their feathers   They fight it; they will not be taken from the thing the guard most precious   A perfect white sphere   They have waited for this moment for what seems like forever   They look down at the gift they have been guarding for nearly two months   Soon it should hatch   Around them others’ gifts come to life   First a small twitch It slowly becomes stronger   The strength of new life   Then a small hammering on the shell   It soon begins to break   Piece by piece the shell falls to the ground   Then it emerges  A puff of gray down   Beady black eyes that teem with life, love, and kindness   The couple look back at their egg, will theirs hatch?   Will they be able to enjoy this great gift?   They begin to lose hope   They look down at the lifeless egg   Then the miracle happens   Their egg starts to show signs of life   They watch it closely   As if they take their eyes off of it it would disappear   Out of the shell comes a small gray ball of down   The couple huddles closer together   The love they have for each other emanates   They turn their attention back to the new life they created   She begins to stand on two little dark gray webbed feet   She wobbles and falls down, but gets right back up   She begins to walk but her parents make sure she doesn't wander off too far    Her sharp black beak glistens in the sun   Her eyes are a warm black   She comes back to her parents and they embrace her   They are whole   A family