Things I Tell My Wife by Matt Knutson

“Please don’t bring any home,” I texted my wife after Sera sent me a message that she was rescuing ducklings with the sheriff’s department. Every day is an adventure with her, but that day was the most adventurous she has been in quite a bit of time. On her way to work, Sera somehow spotted a mother duck crossing a busy street and a trail of ducklings following her. Unfortunately, these little ducklings follow their mother as well as our daughter follows us: not well.

We just got home from taking Gracelyn for a walk, so I can vouch that the girl doesn’t remotely know how to walk in a straight line. A little to the left, a little to the right and then it’s dashing up the neighbor’s yard without a care to where Mom and Dad might be. Similarly, the ducks from a few days ago failed to notice where mother duck was leading them, and instead, fell into a street grate.

When Sera noticed the scene from the driver’s seat of our car, she quickly parked and dashed to the side of the road where an older gentleman was beginning to ponder what to do about the six ducklings that were now separated from the rest of their family. While I wasn’t there to see Sera’s face, I’m sure there were tears in her eyes. After convincing the gentleman to call the non-emergency police line (Sera was probably too overwhelmed to make any sense had she called herself), they waited for the animal control department to arrive. Patience began to wane as the baby quacks started to fade away.

When a sheriff department’s car drove past, my wife couldn’t help herself and flagged the deputy down. I’m not sure what she thought this would accomplish, but he willingly became the third musketeer while waiting for animal control to arrive. He happened to have the ability to track the status of how far the rescuers were from the scene, which likely deescalated the situation.

Eventually the six little ducklings were reunited with their mama and four siblings thanks to the crack duck patrol team.

“My mama heart might have wept with joy afterwards,” Sera said. She captured their moment of release in a Facebook Live video, which has now been viewed by nearly 4,000 people and shown on the local television station. Apparently everyone loves a good story about reuniting a waterfowl family. Sometimes I forget how caring people can be — how people long for an inspirational story of someone being in the right place, at the right time, and doing the right thing. If only we could capture and share those stories more often.

Perhaps trying to rekindle the magic, Sera drove past a park today and later eagerly texted me that she saw several baby geese. Thankfully, none of these were in danger. Well, not real danger. My wife had half-heartedly asked to bring one home as a pet for our daughter, but a quick reminder of the importance of keeping the goose family together was sufficient enough to avoid what might end of being a gaggle in our back yard. Gracelyn’s window-cling bird feeder provides more than enough avian adventures outside our home.

With our duckling or gosling encounters hopefully behind us, I think I can begin to let my guard down on baby animals becoming part of the family. This week has been a good reminder for many of us to keep our eyes open for the opportunities to do good in this world. We all need a little more good news, and you never know when you might be part of making it. You never know what, or who, could benefit from your help.

Matt Knutson is a communication specialist in Rochester.