A Goat story from the May Goat

Eve was born into our goat herd on Christmas Eve. Her sister was (you guessed it) Christmas. Melissa was their Mom goat. And we pronounced it me-lissa. Long e. So Mama Melissa had her kids on one of the coldest Christmas Eves in Jacksonville history. We didn’t realize they were coming so soon and were alerted by the dogs barking. They were in the pasture barking at her while she was giving birth all alone. We got out there in time to see the second one come out (Eve). The dogs were going crazy and Melissa was prancing around trying to keep them from her kids. The kids are trying to nurse a moving target at the same time. Somehow Melissa stepped on Eves leg. We didn’t think it was broken but she couldn’t stand up to nurse. So we took her inside with us. Now inside temp wasn’t much better than outside. We only had a fireplace for warmth. It was a trailer from the 60’s that had been built onto. It had central air at one time but it had long since given up the ghost.
Here’s this freshly licked clean by her Mum kid shivering in our arms. Poor wee thing. We got a box and rags and set her in them by the hearth. My mom got a bottle ready. It wasn’t our first rodeo with feeding a kid. So we fed her, took her outside, and cleaned up after her as she grew and grew and became… a dog. lol. At least that’s what she thought she was. We loved Eve so much! She stayed a house goat long after we should have re-introduced her to the herd. Fun fact, she loved the fireplace. She would get so close to the heat sometimes her very long eyelashes would singe! She was adorable and beautiful. The most well behaved house goat you could ever imagine. Finally one summer (she was about 18 months old, fully grown) we introduced her to the herd. They treated her terribly at first. But we made sure to visit her with lots of leftovers that we shared with the others. Eventually, as was the plan, they identified good things happened when she was near. They finally accepted her. It was a relief. Honestly she would have been a housegoat forever had she not started taking food from the countertops. Just like a big dog would do I suppose. (I’ve never had a dog big enough to do that.) I have a photo of me hugging Eve on my Aunt Lilly’s porch. I think I was 12. It’s a Polaroid. lol
Eve lived a long happy goat life and had many kids of her own, sugar and spice, Holly and Day, Salt and Pepper. That’s all I can think of now, oh wait, Cinnamon and Roll too. She carried on the tradition of having twins just like her Mum.
Every year while I was in elementary school my Mom would bring a kid to all the classrooms 1St-5Th and let all the children come up and pet the goat. She would let them feel where the horn nubs were. Where one day the horns would come through. She taught them what she knew about goats. She told them about Eve. One day when I was visiting a friend in a Jacksonville hospital a worker overheard my name (it’s unusual). His ears perked up. He stopped me and said, “Are you the goat ladies daughter”. I laughed and said yes. He told me how much he loved the visits from the goat lady every year. His brothers and sister all talked about visiting with the kids and even now remember it fondly. It felt good to know my mother made a difference. At least for these children she did.
This would have been a good story to share for Mother’s Day. Too late for that. But it’s still Mother’s Day month. Happy Belated Mothers Day!