The Gift of Enough

In a small town, near green hills and a gentle stream there lived amma, a kind and warm elderly woman. Her home was a simple cottage at the edge of the town surrounded by a garden. A few fruit trees and a fence that whispered in the breeze. 

Amma had no children of her own and her husband had passed away many years before. But amma was not alone, she had  poppy her small hen with white soft white feathers, black spots on her wings and a little red comb. 

Poppy followed amma everywhere clucking softly as if adding her own opinion to their conversations. 

The villagers would often smile, when they saw the two slowly walking together. Amma with her cane and poppy waddling beside her like a loyal little friend. 

Every morning, as the sun painted the sky in orange and pink poppy would lay a single warm smooth egg. 

Amma would collect it with great care, hold it gently in her wrinkled hands and whisper. 

"One is enough my dear, may we always have just what we need."

She should boil the egg eat half for the breakfast and save rest for the dinner. 

Amma tended her small garden grew her own vegetables and lived with peace in her heart. One day something unusal happened, poppy laid two eggs instead of one. Amma blinked two. She whispered, "well now that's generous".

She cooked one egg and took the second to the market. She didn't ask for much. Just enough to buy a handful of rice and a piece of jaggery.

The following days poppy continued to lay two eggs each morning. 

Soon the villagers noticed, sell both eggs amma said one. You should feed poppy more, maybe she'll give three said another. Think bigger you could have 10 hens, make a business.

But amma only smiled warmly and said, "One for me and one to share that's enough."

She gave the extra eggs to a poor family. Two children on the way home from school or quietly left them on someone's doorstep.

People began calling her 'egg amma' with affection.

Then the monsoon came the rain fell hard for days. The nearby stream overflowed, the fields were washed away and mainly families fell into difficult times. 

But poppy kept laying two eggs each day and amma had been saving many. She boiled them, pickled them and quietly handed them. Out of those in need without asking for anything in return.

One rainy afternoon, a group of villagers came to her and said amma "why didn't you sell more when you had the chance. Why didn't you try to make more money."

Amma paused looked at them warmly and said, "because true happiness isn't about gathering more it's about loving what we already have and sharing it when the time comes i kept only what i needed, the rest was a gift to be shared."

Poppy clucked softly and snuggled against amma's feet as if in complete agreement. True happiness isn't about collecting more it's about appreciating what we already have and choosing to share it with kindness. When we lift up others, we lift ourselves and together. 

We become rich in compassion, peace and happiness.