Days of Thankfulness, Day 14

It was just a silly joke.

I was bored, recently unemployed, and spending a lot of time on Keane's official forum. I particularly loved the captions thread, and a lot of people seemed to enjoy the silly captions I would make up. I never dreamed that this one, about a "lucky rubber ducky" named Mr. Swimmy, would take on such a huge life of its own, but it did.

You can read the story here, because today I want to focus not on the duck, but on the four women I have in my life because of the duck, and because of Keane: Lindsay, Maayan, Sarah and Amanda.

As best as I can figure, we started our little Facebook group about three years ago today, give or take a day or two, and in those three years, we have shared massive amounts of joy, sorrow, laughter, occasional bickering, daily dramas and all of the things that life throws at us. We've supported each other through family deaths (Sarah's father, Amanda's grandfather, Lindsay's brother-in-law, my niece, Lindsay's cat, my cat), cheered each other on in new jobs and opportunities, and we've even welcomed Lindsay's baby--now nearing his second birthday, oy-vey-how-time-flies--all of it with ducks in hand and friendship linking us across thousands of miles. Are Internet friendships real? Yes, yes, they are.

So today, I express my thankfulness for my "duck ladies," for being who they are, for being my friends. When people give me strange looks, or make comments about how silly my duck is (and yes, so-called "friends" have made comments), I smile and tell them that it's about so much more than a little rubber duck who rides around in my purse.

So much more.

Little duck, big, big world.