Of ducks and swans

British researchers have recently discovered that, despite common knowledge, swans do not mate for life. Returning from their migration, a couple paired up with different partners, and, as civilised modern people do, ended up living on other sides of the same lake. It doesn't end here. A study from the University of Melbourne, Australia, has demonstrated that infidelity is rife among black swans, with one in six cygnets raised by a pair being illegitimate.
Ducks, on the other hand, pair up about now (end of February/beginning of March), and, quite openly, their bond lasts a year only. New year, new friends.

Now, from some bizarre reasons that I am not going to indulge you in, I am actually quite experienced in both swans and ducks. In one of my past lives, I inherited a pair of black swans, swimming happily in the pond at the back of my house, which they shared with countless wild ducks.

Probably because they didn't have much choice (their wings had been clipped), the cob and pen, George and Georgina, were inseparable. A symbol of domestic bliss, they used to build a nest every year (the poor things never managed to have any offspring), shared the food I gave them, with George the gentleman keeping away the ducks so that Georgina could eat in peace, and often enough started that bizarre neck-entwining dance that ended up with... well, sex. Unfortunately one day the pen died in mysterious circumstances.. And that's when I had my suspicions, which are now corroborated by science. George never looked as happy as during his time as a bachelor. He was the king of the water. Finally first to reach the corn, finally the only one I stopped to talk to, finally undisturbed when sleeping on the grass. It was heaven.. until a fox had the best (and most) of him.

At the same time, the yearly duck encounters were incredibly sweet. Those eight months together were short, but intense. During the spring, they were at it all the time, keeping me awake night after night. And they went on and on until the cutest ducklings appeared in the summer.

So, where on earth am I going with this ornithological digression?
Realization number four.
Life is too short for sticking to the rules. Do whatever works for you, whatever makes you happy. Life-long partnership, yearly mating, once in a lifetime, unconditional love, sex, no sex.. anything goes, as long as it is in your nature.
And don't believe in what you see. There is usually a lot more behind domestic bliss..