Today has been interesting…
The Story
This morning, while swimming, I noticed a newly-hatched gosling swimming in the pool. The parents, two beautiful Egyptian Geese, stood by and flew up to their nest (in the planting areas of a fountain in the middle of the pool) to check it a few times. Then they flew off.
And left their baby alone in the pool. For a very long time.
I swam my laps, then told the guy who works at the pool to let me know if the parents didn’t return. We’d try to figure something out.
Several hours later, I called him to check. Nope, the parents never came back. (Wow. Seriously?)
I called the South Florida Wildlife Rescue and asked about this oddity. Sometimes the parents just leave, especially if a baby can’t get out of the pool.
Rescue the baby and reintroduce it to its parents, they told me. (Not a huge stretch, since the parents often spent time in my backyard at my birdfeeder.)
I went back to the pool, scooped the baby up into a net, and brought it home in a closed wicker basket. I left it out on the porch, safe and sound with food and water, while I came inside to shower and change out of my swimsuit.
When I returned downstairs, I found a Mallard duck mama with 7 babies exploring the wicker basket and having a long conversation with the baby in the basket. I thought, “Maybe the Mallard will adopt this baby, since she’s so interested.” I opened the basket and gently took the baby out.
It RAN to the Mallard mama! She welcomed it like it was her own, then turned and waddled her way down to the lake, with 8 babies in tow.
Watching her, I realized that the baby was most likely a Mallard, not an Egyptian Goose, which is why the geese left and never returned. It wasn’t their baby.
Still, where the baby’s parents? Was the baby actually this Mallard mama’s? If so, how did she come to my house (at least 1/2 mile away from the pool) with her newly-hatched babies? There was another lake just next to the swimming pool, much larger than mine. Did the baby belong to another Mallard? What happened to them? Why was it abandoned?
Questions I’ll probably never know the answers to.
What I do know is this: This story touched me. The synchronicity of everything was beautiful.
The perfection of the rescue and the release
couldn’t have been more Divinely aligned!
The Lessons
Later in the day, in another neighborhood, I noticed another duck with 20 ducklings! Knowing how unusual it is to see ducks and their ducklings (just hatched), I knew that today, Duck had a message for me to share.
I meditated on it: Ducks are connected to water, since they live on the water. As soon as it hatches, a duck can swim and dive to get food.
Water is about spirituality and emotions – how things flow. Because ducks can navigate easily in the water, they have all their needs met.
This is a strong reminder to us that our needs are always met.
Ducks create strong communities – they love to be among their own. They are affectionate and loyal, and they will stay where they are happy and comfortable.
This is a lesson to us as Spiritual entrepreneurs to
create community with those of like-mind.
The fact that these babies were all just hatched was particularly significant.
The young hatchlings represent new ideas and projects,
and how those ideas can easily be fed
by going with the flow and diving deep
to get the sustenance we need.
Our reminder is to adapt easily to the new family
for community, safety and guidance,
as well as to trust that all will be well …
even if it seems in the moment that it is not.
The world of nature is always teaching us; we have only to listen to hear what it is saying. What is it sharing with you? And how is this lesson applicable to your world?
As always…
