Perky the Duck

On bitter cold nights in north Georgia - as I sit at my desk wrapping up work , saying good night to the night guard who is not at all surprised to see me there and drive home listening to the radio - I have to remind myself that I am not alone , wrestling with choices, options, decisions, indecisions and listening to the voices inside my head until everything is a big blur.

Days when I feel less like my age and more like my shoe size.

Then I come home and just when I've made my mind up about the day - I read something utterly random and seamlessly inspiring that my own battles seem far ordinary and far away.

Today I read about Perky.

If I thought I had a rough last week - clearly I was mistaken.

Last week on a day when much was normal - Perky, dark brown Canadian duck was walking outside her house in Florida when she was shot, dragged by a dog, hung on a rack with other dead ducks and then stuck inside a refrigerator.

But Perky decided that she wasnt giving up. Not even when she was in pain, cold, dark and all alone. Perky held on for 2 whole days - then when someone opened the fridge, she gathered every ounce of her strength and stuck her proud head out.

They say that Perky was Lucky. I think Perky had a choice- to give up or hold on.Even when there was no end in sight. And Perky decided that she had had enough with the ways of the world. She was going to play by her own rules and that meant sticking it out when the going was tough.She was going to be found by the same person who shot her down and her guts were going to inspire him to turn her over to safety.

Or maybe it is true that luck is a funny thing ..that the harder we work ..the more of it we find. And what decides whether we are worthy of the lesson or the experience is days like today - when we feel the exhaustion in our bones and the despair in our minds ..but we find something that tells us to look beyond the haze and the madness and to hold on.

So between you and me. Hold on. For one more day.