A couple weeks ago Ella was begging me to take her to Sugarhouse park. She and her daddy had been a day earlier and it was “so so cool” {sidenote: everything is way cooler with dad}. It had a bike path and playground where she has almost mastered the monkey bars and a skate park! Steve had let her ride her bikedown the big ramps and I think we may have a little shredder in the making. There was also a pond with ninety hundred million baby ducks. So we loaded the stroller and bike in the back of the trusty minivan and headed over. We made our way over to the pond trying not to disturb any of the nice sleeping homeless people (seriously, what was Steve thinking with this park?) Ella’s duck count turned out to be almost accurate. Crammed into this tiny pond were hundreds of ducks with loads of fluffy adorable little babies. They swam dutifully behind their mamas and waddled cute and clumsy along the grass. Ella chased along after them and Annika squealed in delight. One mama duck with about twenty babies waddled right past Elle, and the little fluff balls of temptation were more then she could resist. She reached down and scooped up a darling little duckling. Her pride and delight in her new catch lasted about a millisecond. I was twenty yards away and turned just in time to see Ella firm grasp on the little duckling and mama duck honking, feathers flying right in Ella’s direction. Everything from that point happened in slow motion. The mama duck with precision of a heat seeking missile went right for Ella’s face. “Drop the baby, drop the baby,” I screamed as I ran/stumbled towards her baby buggy in tow. Ella who previously had a death grip on the poor little baby flung it unceremoniously. Baby duckling sailed through the air as mama duck continued her assault, giving Elle another peck on the cheek for good measure. Then she loudly gathered up her babies and hustled them back to the safety of the pond. Poor little Ella just stood there bewildered and covered in feathers. When I got to her she burst into tears more out of embarrassment than pain. I hugged her doing my best to swallow down my laughter but at last I couldn’t hold it in and I burst out laughing. Ella did NOT find it amusing. We had a long talk about how the mama was just protecting her baby. “What would I do if someone tried to take you?” I asked.
I’ve thought a lot about our protective mothering instincts before. While motherhood brings out my soft and nurturing side it also evokes a ferociousness in me I didn’t know I was capable of. There have been times when somebody just says the wrong thing about my child and I picture myself biting off their head and swallowing it whole. If someone ever tried to hurt one of my girls…….. I like to think I could show no mercy. The truth is, I don’t have superhuman strength. I won’t be able to protect them from all the kinds of hurt out there. I want to shield them from the ridiculous way our culture objectifies women. I want to fiercely guard their individuality let them know they don’t have to be anything but themselves. I want to make sure they never have broken hearts or dashed dreams. But I can’t go around all the time feathers flying loudly honking “away from my baby you!” I hope I can be just like that mama duck, keep them close, and then teach them to fly.
