And Then There Were 10

April 2020

Nature is a funny thing. Not funny, Ha Ha, but funny....you know, peculiar... expected but not. It can throw a human a curve ball at a moments notice. This April was one of those times.

This past Wednesday, late afternoon, the hubs and I took stroll to our neighborhood park lake. It's too big to be a pond and it's too small to be a lake. But the sign says, "Neighborhood Lake" so, there ya go.

There are benches about every quarter around the lake and we have our favorite. We were sitting, relaxing, taking in the coolness of the approaching evening and, well, just being...and being together.

We hear some rustling in the reeds in front of us. Low and behold. there came a mamma duck and baby ducks!
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. We counted again. Could that be correct? Thomas counted, I counted, then we counted again. "Did you get eleven?"
Yes, 11 baby ducks!!

She was half following half corraling the little things while they poked and pecked the water trying not to stray too far from ma duck.

We gently vacated our seat so to follow quietly. It was an amazing sight. In the middle of this virus junk, we have nature rearing its head saying, "See me? You can't stop Mother Nature. You can't stop the circle of life. God prevails."

We followed them down one side of the lake and back. Thomas was patiently letting me soak in this unexpected love..in awe-ness...though he appreciates nature, I'm sure this scene wasn't effecting him like it was me.
Don't get me wrong. I love nature...but this...what was it about this mamma duck and babies?

The next evening I took my youngest to see these soul piercing creatures. There they were, almost as we left them....traveling up and down one side of the lake shore.
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, ELEVEN.

Luckily I had my phone this time and shot a small video and posted it on social media. Aaron and I even named the babies. Starting with the name Mary....and the rest rhyming with that :) Carey, Perri, Barry... I named the mom, Lois.

Still, at this second outing, my heart is full of something I can't explain for this little duck family. So full. Hope? Amazement? I'm not sure, but it brings me to tears most days I visit them.

The next evening I visit the lake searching for my animal family. They were not to be found. I went around the whole lake...searching and searching for them to no avail.

Tonight.  Tonight!  I almost can't bring myself to write what I found tonight.

I was so looking forward to my outing. I now call it my- daily-visit- to-see-my-duck-family outing. 

I put on my shoes and found my phone....pictures are a must. I feel an overwhelming need to diary their growth daily. Shoot!! my phone is about to die. No phone on this trip. That's ok. Tomorrow.

Where are they? There! I see they are nearing a part of the bank where there are too many trees to see. They are headed toward the dock. I'll go there ahead of them and watch as they approach and pass.

one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten... wait...1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10...wait... I counted again and again...
10? 10 baby ducks? I counted and recounted and counted again. I followed them for most of their journey along the bank. Where was Mary? My heart!! I've been stabbed in the heart by Mother Nature's dagger of the animal kingdom.

My mind is a flurry of worst case scenarios. It is hard to think about them because it brings me such great sadness. 


I thought Frasier Crane would show me the way to the lost little chick. But he didn't know where was Mary.

My walk home was melancholy. My head lower than usual...no exercising on the way home, no jogging. Just a slow gait and contemplating my feelings on the matter. Why was I so upset? Why did I feel such a mournful loss?

April 20

April 23

April 27

April 30

Look what I found today!! I think maybe I found the missing chick! This looks like the mom of the 10 but it's not. Lois and her brood are down the shore a bit. This might be her sister? Maybe Lois was babysitting for her sister (I call her Gloria) the day Aaron and I saw them and the 11th was really Gloria's??

 That's what I choose to believe=)

All is now right in my little world. The sun a bit brighter, the air a bit fresher. All because of a lost and found duckling.