2020 has been a rollercoaster of a decade. Wait.

Year. It’s just a year, right?

There’s no doubt the state of the world weighs heavy on many. Even if you’re fortunate enough to still have income and a safe place to live.

These are tough times.

And in tough times, little glimmers of joy become beacons of hope you cling to.

This story is about ours.

This is a story of ducks (you might want to grab a tissue).

Life & Jacket

We arrived to Sanford, Florida about 6 months ago – now our longest stay in one spot. There’s always been ducks that hang out on what is called ‘Marina Isle’, the little peninsula of land in which our marina is part of.

Mostly Mallards and Muscoveys.

To get to our marina’s office to fetch our mail and packages, we have to walk past the public ramps that are part of the Isle.

After a couple of times making the trek, we couldn’t help but notice the two out of place white ducks that are always there.

Always.

Like they run the place.

When we’d stop for a moment, they come right up to us and start chattering on about this and that.

‘Quack quack quack quack’

and

‘Quack quack quack quack quack’.

And then we’d find ourselves chattering back.

Soon enough, we’re Googling ‘White Ducks’ to learn more about them, and find out they are Pekin ducks – domesticated ducks brought over from China and raised for food and pets.

We learn they are highly social and talkative (well, didn’t need to look that up).

We researched proper care and feeding, and before we knew it we had Dried Meal Worms on Amazon Subscribe and Save.

And pretty much every day we’d end up going out to the public docks and hanging out with our quacky friends.

We even named them.

After all, someone must have painted this sign to indicate who’s Zone this is:

Life and Jacket.

Well, except that would be too obvious.

We pretended they are French, and pronounced it ‘Lief’ and ‘Jaquette’.

They became our friends.

And no matter how dark the days got, spending just a couple moments chatting over mealworms could brighten our mood.

And it would melt our hearts when they’d give us a nuzzle up our arm, a gentle peck or would waddle along with us escorting us back.

They’ve even been known to make a photo bombing appearance in our work videos (check out this update on AT&T’s Nationwide 5G Cellular and Chris trying to keep a straight face.)

We’re Not the Only Ones

Least you think we’re the only Pekin-crazed people in Sanford, Life & Jacket had won the hearts of many.

They made friends with basically anyone who brought them offerings, and it was not uncommon to get down to the ramps to see a HUGE mountain of cracked corn or meal worms they were feasting on.

But they’d always leave their hoards, and come over to see us – gobbling out of our hands instead.

Being the social ducks they are, they seemed to prefer a free meal with company.

Every so often we’d meet another of their friends who had come to visit. And quickly learned these are ducks of many names.

Some called them Donald & Daisy, and others Harold & Kumar.

Who knows what other names they went by.

We also learned that these two and their three others were dropped off at the ramps sometime after Easter 2019 (right after we departed from our first visit) as ducklings – presumably someone’s unwanted Easter gift. They were the last two left.

Tragedy Strikes

This past Sunday evening we went to visit our quacky chatters. As we were approaching there was only one white body.

Which is odd. These two are never more than a few feet apart.

Jacket is no where to be found and Life is beside himself. He takes only a little bit of food from us. We look all over, perhaps she’s built a nest nearby?

I posted to our dock neighbors group and asked if anyone knew anything.

Our faces turned as white as the ducks when the reply came…

A trailer on the ramps had run her over earlier in the day, and she was gone.

We quite honestly spent most of Monday devastated and unable to function.

It’s hard to believe a duck can impact you that much.

But it’s about more than the tragic untimely death of a sweet natured duck.

It was also about losing some of our daily dose of joy, of hope of a light at the end of this tunnel, or a daily conversation with someone else but ourselves.

And knowing that this would change everything for Life.

For these ducks are social and need companionship, and a ramp is obviously not a safe place to stay.

Life would either face a lonely and shortened life ahead if he stays on the ramp, or he’d find somewhere else to go (but these ducks don’t fly).

And yes, we even entertained the thought of a boat duck.

Life Goes On

We’ve sat vigil with Life many times this week to keep him company.

And many others have joined us who have cared for and loved these guys. We’ve often been the unfortunate bearer of bad news of Jacket’s loss.

And then serendipity arrived one late evening.

A lady who also visits & feeds the ducks was saddened when we told her the story. And then she shared that a relative of hers lives nearby on land with ponds who has a few Pekin ducks already, along with chickens.

And they had contemplated relocating these ducks there before, but thought better of it as they suspected people at the marina might love them (true story).

However things are different now.

That love and care means we have to put Life first.

But we weren’t comfortable making the decision, after all – Life & Jacket are owned by no one.

So we talked with as many other Life loving locals as we could – including our friend who manages the marina, and several other dock mates. It was a unanimous community decision, relocating Life for safety and companionship was the right thing to do. No matter how much we’ll miss him.

So we did the right thing.

With Life pretty darn comfortable with us, we’d be the bait to capture him and put him in a carrier. We talked to him all day long to explain the duck paradise he was heading towards, and to not be scared.

When the time came, I sat on the concrete of the ramp, got out my worms – and Life walked my way looking me in the eyes, crawled up on my lap and let me calmly put him in the crate.

I couldn’t believe it.

He knew too this was the right thing.

 

Thank you Life & Jacket – for your company, for your love and for the joy you brought to our all of our lives.