Temporary? Insanity

Our family collects ducks.

Perhaps I should have listed this in my 10 Weird Things About Me post, but really, it’s all about my dear sweet crazy hubby, Neil.

During Neil’s first year of Optometry school, he and his classmates had a pretty rough go of it. They thought they had this University thing down pat, but graduate school was a different thing altogether.

Neil compared it to being asked to drink from a fire hydrant. The amount of information they were expected to assimilate was staggering.

Different students coped in different ways. Some went out and got drunk (among other things, I’m sure), some turned to computer games, some golfed. And a select few…okay, just the one, scavenged in the local thrift stores for yellow ducky paraphenilia. He also collected hand puppets, but the duckies were the real joy for him.

Now it should be pointed out that we were at this point in time, childless. We had more stuffed animals (and a variety of other toys), than some of our friends who had one or more children. I think that when Emma came along, some people must have wondered did we have her just to stop all the gossip about “That Weird Family…you know, the ones with all the toys but no kids. I know…so strange…”

Neil even had a favourite duck named Percy, who came with him to school whenever he had an exam to write. He was his “Good Luck Duck”, and Neil quickly became somewhat infamous for his odd prediliction. However, his tendency to pass his exams soon gained him a small following who would come and rub Percy for good luck before every test. Academics aren’t quite as superstitious as athletes, but they have their moments.

We’ve stopped collecting ducks, having enough to decorate about half a dozen bathrooms. Our entire main bathroom is plastered with rubber duck paraphenlia. We have the shower curtain, the toilet seat cover, the bath mats, decals and hand soap dispenser. There’s a nail brush in the shape of a duck, a bath pillow, two pouffies, a faucet cover, a toothbrush holder and even a toilet paper roll holder. It’s almost frightening, and bright enough to blind.

Every time I pick up a duck it’s like picking up a bit of history. Remembering when and where we found it…or who gave it to us as a gift, grinning like mad because they knew we’d love it. The duck in the picture with Becca was a gift from my father, who rightly decided that Becca should have a duck of her own. There was a lot of eye rolling on the part of my mother, but Becca loved that duck uso much it made me laugh out loud. She rolled around with it and chewed on its beak till it was sopping wet. It is a much loved duck.

It was once bigger than her, and I find myself measuring her by the duck. She towers above it now, grinning her cheery grin…and I am saddened to think how much bigger than that duck she will one day be.