Cheers to the duck lovin Joel

I just couldn’t resist sharing this story. It was emailed to me and, with a little research, I learned this occurred in May of this year. It could be easily blown off as one of those warm, fuzzy forwards, but it struck a deeper cord with me. It tells of how precious life is and how far some of us are willing to go to sustain and protect it. Enjoy.

A man named Joel works at Sterling Bank in downtown Spokane, Washington. His office is on the second story of a building overlooking busy Riverside Avenue. Several weeks ago, he watched a mother duck choose the cement awning outside his window as the uncanny place to build a nest above the sidewalk. The mallard laid nine eggs in a nest in the corner of a planter perched more than 10 feet in the air. This mother dutifully kept the eggs warm for weeks and before long, all of her nine ducklings hatched.

Joel worried all night how the momma duck was going to get those babies safely off their perch in a busy, downtown, urban environment to take to water, which typically happens within the first 48 hours of a duck’s hatching. The next morning, Joel came to work and watched the mother duck encourage her babies to the edge of the perch, intent to show them how to jump off!

The mother flew down below and started quacking to her babies above. In disbelief, Joel watched the first fuzzy newborn toddle to the edge and, astonishingly enough, leap into thin air, crashing onto the cement below. Joel couldn't watch how this might play out. He dashed out of his office and ran down the stairs to the sidewalk where the first obedient duckling was shaking off the effects from the near fatal fall.

Joel looked up. The second duckling was getting ready to jump! So he quickly dodged under the awning while the mother duck quacked at him and the babies above. As the second one took the plunge, Joel jumped forward and caught it with his bare hands before it hit the cement. Safe and sound, he set it by the momma and the other stunned sibling, still recovering from its painful leap. One by one the babies continued to jump to join their anxious family below. Each time, Joel hid under the awning just to reach out in the nick of time as the duckling made its free fall. The activity on the downtown sidewalk came to a standstill. Time after time, Joel was able to catch the remaining seven and set them by their approving mother.

At this point Joel realized the duck family had made only part of its dangerous journey. They had 2 full blocks before reaching open water. They had to walk across traffic, crosswalks, curbs, and pedestrians to get to the Spokane River. The on looking secretaries from Joel’s office then joined in, and hurriedly brought an empty copy paper box to collect the babies. They carefully corralled them, with the mother's approval, and loaded them into the white cardboard container. Holding the box low enough for the mom to see her brood, Joel slowly navigated through the downtown streets toward the Spokane River. The mother waddled behind and kept her babies in sight.

As they reached the river, the mother took over and passed him, jumping into the river and quacking loudly. At the water's edge, members of the Sterling Bank staff then tipped the box and helped shepherd the babies toward the water’s edge and their mother.All nine darling ducklings safely made it into the water and paddled up snuggly to momma duck. Joel said the mom swam in circles, looking back toward the beaming bank workers, proudly quacking as if to say, “See, we did it! Thanks for all the help!”

That just warms the cockles of my cold, frigid heart. Sniff, sniff. I think I gotta speck of sumpin' in my eye . . .