"Always behave like a duck -- keep calm and unruffled on the surface but paddle like the devil underneath."

I made a new acquaintance yesterday. Right after church I headed over to Liberty Park to meet a friend. We sat in the warmth of the rays of the beautiful sunshine for about two hours talking and people watching. At that point, my sunburn from the previous day (holy crap you should see how red my stomach is) let me know that it was time for me to be in the shade. So we moved across the bridge and found a great place next to the pond under some wonderfully huge shade trees.

We put the blanket down, I kicked off my flip flops and settled on my back to watch the magnificent blue sky delightfully bounce the occasional white cloud around while my friend choose to settle on his stomach to read a book. It didn't take long for me to be utterly and completely lost in my extremely secret thoughts that have been my entire world for a while now. I have no idea how much time had passed but it had to be a while because I was so deeply entrenched that the world around me had ceased to exist.

Suddenly I was thrust out of my thoughts to the attention of my feet. Something wet, cold and hard was tapping on my bare toes. I quickly parted my feet to reveal a mallard . . . my new acquaintance. I quickly pulled my feet away and started laughing. The duck just cocked its head and looked at me with no fear. It then walked over to my side and stopped to continue to stare. It was freaking me out a little at this point, so my friend tried to encourage it to leave. After much prodding, it finally went on its way.

I pulled my knees to my chest, wrapped my arms around my legs and rested my chin on my knees. We had begun a new conversation when suddenly there was a tap, tap, tap on my back. The duck was again seeking my attention. This time the duck was almost thrown back into the pond (as nicely as possible though and not be me) because it couldn't be enticed to leave my side.

I have never seen a duck as bold as was this duck. It did create much laughter though.