my favourite things/ first flights

 

[ First ever flight of two common goldeneye ducks.  Check out other amazing photos by :
http://naturen-ar-fantastisk.blogspot.ca/p/insekternas-fantastiska-varld.html ]

I have often wondered
how the ducklings got to the ground
safely

each year in the big lightning struck Cottonwood
down in Pete and Marie's hay field
a mama duck plants a nest
as high up as high can go

the hole in the tree 
is generous
the grass around 
soft enough
and each year I just shake my head
and marvel
at the pair's return
and persistent building
in such a high rise

I have never been there to see them come out
...the ducklings...
to see them fall
like baby robins
who topple out of their nests
and usually land harmlessly
my hope was always that they would land harmlessly
each year I would breathe a little prayer

I mean
have you ever seen their fat little bodies and their miniature wings?

I shake my head as I walk away each year
and marvel

and now this  photo

35 years I have marvelled
but never seen

35 years I have looked at the lightning struck tree
and wondered if a family would return

and when they do
I simply marvel

no less today

I mean
just look at the delight 
in those little ducklings
and their first flight

it is the same joy
I saw in Jedaiah's eyes after Bethany had led him
up to the high tower at Simon Fraser Pool
and he had jumped
taken first flight 
(he wasn't yet two)
(his joy was like these ducklings)
over and over again
he would jump
for the pure joy 
of falling

now he sky dives

these ducklings will take their
thousand mile migration
come fall
and I am sure what brings them back each Spring
will be the memory
of

their first flight
 
I still marvel
but now I smile...

first flights
my favouite things