Do you ever feel like your paddling upstream in a strong current, paddling against the odds of finishing the journey and reaching a destination? Don’t we all have times like that filled with a mix of emotion and energy? Don’t we all have to paddle against the odds sometimes in life, and hope, just hope that we all make it.
I could try to think of some esoteric platitude to reason it out. But it just feels like you have to keep paddling hard, fast to beat the current.

mallard ducks
Well it was a warm, sunny winter day. And, I don’t save that sentence too often during a Midwestern winter, but it was. Still the waves on water were strong, and the wind whipped across it like a large water snake. Sometimes what appears friendly, inviting is anything but. And, we can do is keep paddling to reach the other side.
The mallard ducks kept paddling, fighting the waves to cross the water. I hope they made it.