Last week in Studio Art, Ms. Evans
gave an assignment to do a watercolor painting of a collection that you have at
your house. My first thought was that I don’t have any collections, but then I
remembered that there’s a shelf in my house full of rubber ducks. I definitely
don’t want to be someone who has a rubber duck collection, that seems strange
for sure, but I guess I do have one.
The collection definitely didn't
start on purpose. I remember being a toddler and playing with rubber ducks
during bath time, and we still have some of those ducks. When I see these ducks
it amazes me to think that some of them are almost as old as me. Certain rubber
ducks bring back memories from before I was even in preschool of laughing with
my mom or dad and setting up scenarios for the duck characters during playtime.
The “collection” began back then when I thought it was really fun when the
ducks were different colors or had more of a personality. My favorite one for a
while had a crown which made her the Queen Duck (a close second for favorite
was a duck that changed colors in the water!). The collection started to grow
when we would travel somewhere and would see a rubber duck and buy it as a
souvenir. That’s how we ended up with a Chicago duck that’s playing the
saxophone, which I creatively named “Chicago” at the age of five.
Once I got past the age of bath
time, the ducks slowly got stored away in cabinets. We didn’t throw them out,
but over the years I forgot that we had built up such a collection because the
ducks were all hidden away in the bottom of a box somewhere. Around the time my
sister was leaving for college we started to sort through everything in our
house. Among the items that we found were the rubber ducks. Each one seemed to
hold a fun story and as we were taking them out of the box everyone had
memories to share that made us laugh or smile. We decided to dust them off and
put them on an empty shelf in the house in order to reminisce every once in a
while.
After that, the idea of rubber
ducks became a fun joke in our house. Whenever we would see something with
rubber ducks we would buy it for someone else in the family as a joke gift.
Eventually these joke gifts added up to build a small collection of rubber duck
items. Ducks aren’t added to the collection as often anymore, but they still
bring a smile to our faces and a distant memory of easier times.
I'M A BIG FAN OF YOUR DUCKS. I see them as a staple of the Sunderland family and kind of encapsulates the fun and quirky personalities you all have. To be honest, this reminds me of my rock collection I used to keep up with for a really long time. Though rocks sound a lot more boring that personality-filled rubber ducks, I had a similar experience re-encountering my collection. It's so cool to see what memories and feelings these collections bring to us; they're like little time capsules!
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting story. I love how you now cherish the ducks so much and that they each have different stories. I don't think my family really has a collection, nor have I. I think I intentionally tried to start collections when I was a kid but then always gave up, because for some reason I stopped liking the thing. But it is really cool how you guys have kept up the collection throughout the years.
ReplyDeleteI think I've heard rumors about your famous rubber duck collection but wow. It's crazy how the little things in life can turn out to be the most memorable. I have a stuffed animal collection that protects me when I'm asleep, so I can relate to your duck situation. Also, I used to own a few rubber ducks, but they're now all gone :(.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a cute, meaningful post:) I love that you still keep the ducks just as a way to remember all the memories associated with it. I think a lot of people have some sort of memento (usually stuffed animals, or clothes) to remind them of their childhood, but rubber ducks is a first! I have a collection of stuffed animals, old pictures, and my baby clothes that remind me of my childhood, and this post reminded me of them.
ReplyDeleteHah. This is awesome. I actually also used to collect rubber ducks (I started by winning them as prizes in Jump Rope for Heart in elementary school) but I gave them to my cousins a few years ago. I really miss them now...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, when Mrs. Evans gave me that assignment, I drew my panda bear collection, which is still in my room and will never never never leave. How do you do a water color of black and white animals you ask? I still don't know that assignment was a disaster.
i love hearing about other peoples collections, and rubber ducks are always a classic. my little sister used to collect rubber ducks whenever we would travel, and my older sister and i would collect rocks from places we would go.
ReplyDeleteCollections are always such interesting things. Although I don't really have what I could call a collection, but I've always loved the small little mementos from the past. So I guess I could say I've been collecting collections of all sorts of things. Old timey Wii Games, Rare lego pieces, European toy cars from various places. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis was such a cute post! I love looking through old toys and remembering all the good old memories that come with it. As I child, I collected monster trucks for some reason, and my family still has them in this box in our storage closet. Sometimes whenever I get stressed or a little overwhelmed from school, I go get that box and just look at the monster trucks and reminisce and doing that really helps me relax lol.
ReplyDeleteMy collection includes bracelets and snow globes. Seriously, I would wear like 20 bracelets on each arm at one time! I still do that every once in a while and I plan on getting more. I'm glad you have your own little collection.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing the collection project too. I remember talking about your collection of ducks at the mall. Then we went to the machine and spent 10 dollars collectively on rubber duckies... worth! Anyway, really good blog post and I always enjoy reading them.
ReplyDeleteThis is really cool. Most families have something they collect and give one another as gag gifts (pretty much everybody now gives me golf balls). I think it's really cool how you're able to use the ducks and create art that has such significance to your family story. I hope you save those ducks for as long as you can!
ReplyDeleteNice! I also have a vast collection of Rubber Ducks that is still growing and displayed proudly in my room. The only difference was that I started my collection when I was about 14 or 15, when I dumped a box of rubber ducks in my moms shopping cart while she was in the bathroom, and when told to take them out, I hid one and she bought it without knowing. Ducks are easily one of the superior animals of the earth, and the rubber breed are particularly wonderful. I hope you never forget your little duck friends, they deserve care and attention.
ReplyDelete