The baby mallards are definitely growing.
Not because the log is shrinking, but because they aren’t the tiny ducklings they were just a short time ago. They still gather on the same familiar resting place, pressing against one another as if nothing has changed. But it has.
Pretty soon they won’t all fit.
It made me think about how often life is like that. We don’t always notice growth while it’s happening because we see it every day. Then one morning, something familiar suddenly feels different. The chair seems smaller. The shoes don’t fit. The log that once held everyone comfortably now asks them to spread their wings a little farther.
Maybe that’s what growing up looks like.
Not leaving because you’re ready, but because you’ve quietly become too big for the place that first held you.
For now, though, they’re still together, four young mallards balancing on a weathered log, enjoying one more season where “close enough” is enough.
Behind the Puddle, even a floating log becomes a reminder that growth is often easiest to see in hindsight. And sometimes, the places that helped us grow aren’t meant to hold us forever.
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