A Duck Gave Me "The Look"

Radha and I drove up A1A yesterday on the way back from our dear friend and chiropractor Gary Burns. It was a warm and delicious Friday afternoon and I had the top down, letting the sun shine on us as we debriefed the events of the past week.

It had been an intense few days, filled with teaching hatha classes, hosting our Enlightening Relationships group on Wednesday, and preparing for our Enlightening Moments workshop on Sunday. Out of nowhere I began laughing, remembering what had happened earlier.

"A duck gave me the look this morning," I said.

"Where?" Radha asked.

"On the way to Quail Ridge. It was waiting to cross the road and stared at me."

"That’s amazing,” she smiled. “Did it make it across?”

“I don’t know but it looked me right in the eyes as I drove past.”

“This was one smart duck," Radha replied.

"No kidding," I laughed.

"You're gonna love this... Yesterday I noticed a cat doing the same thing at Woolbright. This confirms Darwin’s theory you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“Only the aware survive!” she chuckled.

I turned on the sound system so we could listen to Diana Krall’s Quiet Nights. With the music playing, we enjoyed the first relaxing day since Radha’s ear operation in December. After ten minutes she announced, “Hey, I can hear the sound vibrating in my left ear.”

“Really?” I turned to look at her. For the last five weeks she had been recuperating. The surgeon had just removed the packing in her ear and her newly constructed eardrum was working. For the first time in ten years she was hearing sound from both ears.

“Wow! My entire head is vibrating with the sound. I love it!”

“I am so happy that this ordeal is over,” I said to her. Taking her hand, my mind turned once more to the duck. I began laughing.

“You remembering the duck again?"

I smiled at her. “You read my mind.”

“I really love how humor is such a huge part of our life,” she said.

I nodded as we pulled into the driveway of our rental home and turned off the car engine. The CD continued to play and we looked up at the beautiful clear sky, enjoying the music together. I spoke, “That's what I love about being with you.”

“Me too.” Radha smiled as Diana started singing "Walk On By." “I love this song.”

“Hey, I just got how we can share GRACE with our Enlightening Moments group.” We planned on deepening their experience of GRACE, the anagram described the five steps we offer in order to transform an upsetting situation into an enlightening moment.

“Tell me,” she answered.

I pushed the button putting the top up on the car. “Let’s request that everyone come with an uplifting joke to share with the group.”

“I like that,” she responded. “We can write it into our blog article combining it with your duck story.”

“Great idea," I answered. "I’ll send them an email telling them to check our blog.”

“You can add the Guru cartoon to it.”

“You think they will get it?”

“Hey, only the aware survive!” she said.

A line of "aware" ducks from our trip to Bali in 1979.

The guru cartoon.

We invite you to leave your own joke, combining the pictures above.