Ben & Jerry Come to Writers Nest

"Hi Belinda," it was my friend Carolyn on the phone. "Be honest, okay? Is it okay if I bring the ducklings to writers group tonight?"

The ducklings? She had said it as though she was saying, "The kids." Like it was normal to bring ducklings to a writers group meeting. Like I knew them or something! She had apparently been writing about them on FB but I had not been getting her posts.


The Rouen ducklings are named Ben and Jerry and Carolyn said she is imprinted on them and that they follow her everywhere. She hoped they wouldn't poop on my rug though.

"Bring them on over," I said, laughing, and promptly went downstairs to tell Bren, Tippy and Tori that they were coming.

Brenda looked up from a box she was packing and said, "Ducklings? What kind of a person brings ducklings?" but added, "That's just jealousy talking."


As 7 o'clock approached, writer friends arrived in groups of two or three. I hope they didn't feel like second best as I rushed to the door each time I heard it open, only to find the ducklings weren't here yet!

Carolyn arrived last and gently put down a cage wrapped in a blue and white checkered blanket, opened a door and let Ben and Jerry out. 

Tippy came upstairs to see them and was smitten immediately. Just one week old, they walked about, staying close each other and to Carolyn, while cheeping at a high pitch.

They were adorable in the way that freshly born creatures are: fluffy, and wide eyed, brand new to the world.

Carolyn explained that they are going with her on a speaking engagement at World Vision tomorrow. They are her object lesson.

Since Carolyn is a teacher as well as a writer, and grew up on a farm, she said that she gets ducklings every year for the children. "They need to be in water every day. I put them in a see through pool," she said," because kids just need to see them paddling."

"Sometimes they're so busy paddling, and then other times they're like, oh yeah, I can just float."

I thought that sounded familiar!

Ironically, Carolyn said she gets them at one week old, but "ducklings just never get ugly."

As we carried on with the purpose of the evening--sharing and discussing writing, Ben and Jerry chirped contentedly nearby in their cage. It was a very soothing background noise.

I learned much about ducks that I didn't know before, including the fact that mother ducks call from the ground to the ducklings, to jump from the nest, before they can fly. I found a You Tube video (posted below) of them doing this. What trust these little birds must have in their 

Matthew 18:1-3

Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

Who Is the Greatest?

18 About that time the followers came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in God’s kingdom?”
Jesus called a little child to come to him. He stood the child in front of the followers. Then he said, “The truth is, you must change your thinking and become like little children. If you don’t do this, you will never enter God’s kingdom.
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)!

The official theme of the evening was "Vacation," (I never did finish my vacation memoir,) but the unofficial thread that wove through the evening was  becoming childlike again and all that implies. As we laughed at the antics of Ben and Jerry and some of us even dared to pick them up, we were children, if only for an evening.

Thank you Ben and Jerry--and Carolyn!





Comments

Anonymous said…
Awwww! I would have had a hard time concentrating with those adorable ones there. I am a sucker for animals. I like your comment about paddling around, then realizing they could float. How much we are like that in our relationship with God. Going this way and that, making waves, trying to get places on our own power - yet we could be floating in His power and go with His will. And that giant leap of faith we need, like the baby ducks jumping from the tree. Yikes. They are jumping into the unknown - guided only by faith in their mother. They have never experienced any of it before, but they have experienced the care of their mother. They obey her call and leap. Would I just do the same with my Heavenly Father! Trust and Obey. Thanks for sharing.
Belinda said…
Yes, Anonymous, I kept peeking at the ducklings, craning my neck to look at them, even as my friends were reading! :)

They teach us much, as you said so well.

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