Just Ducky

Spring break started early for us yesterday when I pulled the kids out of school to attend a motor test firing at ATK.  It's pretty incredible watching them fire it up, seeing the flames and then, a few seconds later, feeling the noise and vibrations in my whole body.  The girls covered their ears but the rest of us just stood there, me with a silly grin on my face.

As soon as we got in the van to come home, all hail broke loose.  It pounded every inch of the van and made gigantic splashes wherever it hit.  I was going to sit it out but people couldn't get by me so I had to enter the line of traffic.  We were the only ones headed towards Brigham City, so I took my time on the highway, the noise of the hail was so loud I couldn't even hear myself think!  Once it calmed I considered stopping for fries, but we went to the library instead.  Katie Anne and I stopped at the little girls room first and oor Katie Anne took the bathroom stall there when the automatic flusher went off over and over again!  I got to her as fast as I could (from my own stall) and saved her from certain whirley.

I took the kids to my mom and dad's at bedtime for a sleepover.  I enjoyed a wonderful sleep with my electric blanket keeping me warm instead of John.  After a nice breakfast and some playtime we headed to the Riverwalk in Logan. It's this wonderful tree lined paved walk way with a couple of bridges and benches next to the golf course, following a portion of the Logan river.

I saw an old friend, Miriam, from high school, right at the entrance and felt absolutely terrible when I couldn't retrieve her name from my memory bank.  She didn't even hesitate on mine.  She is one of those gals who I always wanted to be like...confident, funny, pretty, nice, smart.  It was great to see her and I wish we could have sat down and had a nice long chat covering the gazillion years since we saw each other last.  She was leaving and we were just getting started.

I jogged (yes, I can jog) to catch up and found Jeffrey and my Dad on the side of the riverbank throwing sticks in.  There were a couple of ducks on the side in the calmer water, and I actually felt bad for them that their normally calm home was moving so quickly due to the rains and snow melt lately.  All of a sudden they were swept into the middle of the river and bobbed quickly down.  Oh no!  How upset they must be to find themselves in such a situation!

Surprise, surprise.  They were not scared at all.  Their unemotional little eyes betrayed nothing, but their quick paddling back up the river gave them away.  They were indeed having the time of their lives.  They swam up and then, I saw it clearly this time, lunged into the swift flow and rode the rapids again.  And again.  Farther up the river we saw another duck having a good time.  We watched him ride down, swim to the side, go up the calmer water, even jumping over a couple of low branches, and kick into the rapids. He thought he was so cool.  He wouldn't even look at his audience, though I am certain he was aware of our cheering by the cocky position in which he held his head, straight up and almost self-conscious.  As I think about him now, probably with his beak tucked under his wing, I'm sure he's dreaming of a fabulous day of being alive.

Tonight when I tuck my beak into my...pillow...I will be thinking the same thing.