On a quiet farm, there was one chicken who refused to follow the usual path. While the rest of her flock scratched in the dirt and filed into the coop each night, she made a different choice. Every day, she wandered over to the porch, where two cats basked lazily in the sun.

At first, it seemed like a curious quirk. The chicken pecked at their food, nestled into their soft fur, and blinked back when they blinked at her. It was a funny sight—an odd friendship forming where no one expected it. But as days turned into weeks and weeks into months, it became clear: this wasn’t confusion; it was a choice.

She didn’t stay with the flock she was born into. She stayed with the cats—the ones who made her feel safe, understood, and, most importantly, at home. The cats, initially indifferent to her presence, eventually grew used to her. They no longer saw her as an outsider. The porch became her sanctuary, and in that space, she found a sense of belonging.

To outsiders, it seemed almost like a joke—a chicken living among cats, thinking she was one of them. But that quiet rebellion carried a profound lesson.

We don’t have to stay confined to the “coops” we’re born into—the families, the communities, or the expectations placed on us. Like that chicken, we have the power to choose where we feel truly seen, where we feel safe, and where we truly belong.

Belonging isn’t about fitting into a mold. It’s about finding the place, no matter how unconventional, where we can be ourselves and feel at home. Sometimes, that’s a porch with cats, and sometimes, it’s where we least expect it.