Ducks in a Row

I constantly find myself saying, "I never thought I'd say/do/hear/see..." Well, one of my RAs knocked on my apartment door this morning. As she was about to head out for the summer, I wanted to say goodbye. I threw on some pants and opened the door. There was Missy, with a mischievous look on her face. Then I heard some chirping in the background. "Missy, are those birds?" "Well, they're ducks..." Wait, ducks? Sure enough two yellow 4 week old ducklings were sitting in our service elevator. "My residents left them, and I can't take them home. What should I do?"

Unfortunately, every animal shelter we called was closed because of Mother's Day. So we walked them over in their bucket to the Duck Pond. They needed to walk around, feel the ground, and swim in the pond. I'm going back tomorrow to check on them to make sure they're okay. ARF may receive a phone call tomorrow. I'm worried for their survival.

This begs two separate thoughts. First, the need for freedom. These poor ducks were stuck in a plastic green tub. Was it more humane to keep them in the bucket and wait until the morning to call? Knowing all well I didn't know how to care for them, they were dirty, hungry, and thirsty. Or was it more humane to let them feel freedom, swim on a pond, gather their own food, drink the available water, but know they may not survive because they have been held in captivity for 4 weeks?

Secondly, as a whole, the world knows how to rock your life. When it seems as though you've reached the end, there is always something that happens to catch you off guard. When I woke up this morning, the only thing I could think about was packing for my summer internship in DC and finishing up building closing items. But nope, there were two ducks sitting in the elevator, quaking away.

Time to go back to packing. Only kitchen things done so far!