And this was one day when Jim and I swam at Tennessee Valley. We were getting dressed a ways off the water. A giant sneaker wave came and licked the whole beach suddenly.br/ And then, out of the blue, a momma duck came marching with eight little ones, from the marsh straight out to sea. I had no idea what she was doing and it was terrifying to see the little ducklings in a row on the edge of a raging sea. They walked a little to the left. A wave crashed and toppled a couple of them. They literally went upside down with their little feet sticking up. The people on this side of the beach were on high alert (including me) and wanted to come rescue them. But the next wave rolled away, the ducklings righted themselves and kept marching. In a change of pace, momma duck set off straight back to the marsh n the same businesslike pace she had marched them up to danger.br/ It occurred to me --gt; the disparity in proportion was startling: duckling to ocean. But overall, you and I are more comparable to the birds than to the vast waters. Perhaps it is _exactly_ this disparity in our size and the ocean's that draws us to it.br/ Regardless, I want to end by saying that a few of my calendar dreams toppled with their little legs upside down. I hope however that they can get right back up and march along. This time I just won't be setting a quot;promised byquot; date.br/ Thank you for reading.