A simple object that brings me joy is my fabulous rubber duckie.
Rubber duckies come in many shapes, sizes, and colors.
The one native to my bathtub was plain yellow.


While it may not have looked as exciting as some of the others,
it brought me to an imaginary world almost too real to escape.
It became an unlikely hero, one that would save me from long days of elementary math and other unwanted assignments.

One day, my rubber duckie vanished.
As a child, my imagination ran wild.


I came up with the silliest stories about the reason why.
It's on a spy mission to save the world.
It's being held captive by killer robots.
Or it simply lost its air and sank to the depths of my bathtub.

Fast forward, now as an adult, I sometimes see a rubber duckie in a store or in the hands of a child, sometimes resembling the one from my childhood.

I have also come across a community box filled with all sorts of rubber duckies that people add to the collection or exchange for another.

Seeing this collection made me wonder whether others were holding on to the same childhood joy that I had.

It's almost as if adults are trying to keep that joy alive and pass it on to others.

It begs the question: When do rubber duckies fade away from a child's life? Mine may have vanished but it always stays with me at heart.