One of my earliest memories involves feeding the ducks at a local park. My mom brought the remainder of a loaf of Wonder White Bread, which was on its way to being stale. I went up to the water at the park with my mom and repeatedly stuck my hand in that white bag with the bright primary colored dots. The ducks fought each other off to get a carb-filled treat. But suddenly, we were out of bread. The ducks weren’t happy. As my mom and I walked away they followed us towards the parking lot. She made me quicken my pace until we were safely in the car. Once they retreated we drove away.
I’ve fed ducks since that late 1970’s day, but Isabelle hasn’t fed them — until today. We met up with some friends at a wonderful park we’d never been to before. Lititz Springs Park boasts a long channel of water with ducks who are less aggressive than the ones of from that early childhood memory of mine. The other family brought a loaf of bread for the kids to use to feed the ducks. I had to teach Isabelle how to tear off small pieces of bread to share with the ducks. She kept wanting to give them a quarter or even a half of a piece of bread initially. But once she watched her friend and his older sisters model the right amount to feed them, she was able to imitate them and throw a just-right amount of bread into the water. She squealed with delight every time the ducks gulped up the bread she tossed. Every time she finished tossing she requested “mahr peeeeas” (more please), which was beyond adorable.
Feeding the ducks. Such a simple activity to delight young ones on a play date.
Raising Literate Humans 
A sweet memory of childhood becomes sweeter as you layer it with the new memory of your daughter delighting in the same. Glad the ducks were kinder! “Beyond adorable” sums up the slice!
This is one of the best things about writing about these little slices of life capturing these moments and reliving our similar moments. I wonder what your Mom remembers about the duck feeding day with you. Heartwarming is how I describe many of your Isabella stories. Thank you for sharing them!
What fun for Isabelle! I still love to feed the ducks, but they are greedy little buggers.
What a charming story, Stacey. And I love that Isabelle wanted to give them big bits – a generous spirit!
Isn’t it just wonderful when you get to show Isabelle things that you did? Feeding ducks is just fun, one of the first pleasures in nature I guess. Thanks for sharing your morning, Stacey.
Stacey,
I remember feeding the ducks with my auntie and grammie down at Lake Anna in Barberton, Ohio! There were two swans there as well-we loved doing this on Sundays in the spring and summer after eating dinner! It’s sweet that you captured the joy of it all for Isabelle!
Stacey,
I loved your post. Your description put me right beside you as you fed the ducks then and now. It’s similar to Peg’s post today: http://archermom.blogspot.com/2013/06/summer-1975-i-am-7-my-younger-sister-5.html. Peg walks us through several summers to make the point that life changes, yet stays the same.
I enjoyed the memory of time with your mom and the delight of the time spent today with Isabelle enjoying the simple things — feeding the ducks — and making memories.
One of the things I’ve noticed following SOL stories is that it’s the little things that really matter.
Cathy
I love simple things and simple sweet memories. Brings a smile to my face.
Such a special day! I’ll bet you will be repeating this often this summer! Your duck memories make me laugh- I have memories of some super aggressive goats that knocked my sister and I down at Santa’s North Pole.
Nice to know that this practice continues. Tuvia loves to bring a loaf along when we walk at the river in Nyack. Another great memory for mom and daughter.
It is nice to see the tradition continues. “Squealed with delight” was perfect to paint the picture of how much she enjoyed this simple activity. I know she’ll remember and do it with her kids.
I bought the e-book “Story Telling Strategies” from Stacy Julian at Big Picture Scrapbooking. One of the techniques she mentioned was telling a story over time like life in your 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s. I thought telling how summers were spent would be the perfect opportunity to try it. I was thinking how things are so different now. What I discovered was that life isn’t a line but more of a circle. Through writing, I learned things aren’t as different as I thought going into it.
Isn’t writing wonderful? 🙂