Skip to main content

Momma Bear's Peri-Menopausal and Pissed

It's a great image isn't it? Picture it - a mother bear, overheated and sweating, growling bearing her teeth while swatting at what ever comes in her way. It may not be the image I want related to me most times, but recently it's one that seems to fit!


Someone messed with my cub and I am one pissed off Momma Bear!!


I have had to take a chill pill - in this case a few deep breaths and a couple hours mulling over how to respond. Because I didn't want the person I would be swatting at to go on the defensive. I just wanted him to go down!!! 


I'll let you know the result.


            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


For a totally different picture of this Momma Bear, one of her cubs is about to leave the den. She's been through this before when her oldest cub left the den for the woods at Wabash, so she has been fooling herself into thinking that the second cub would be easier. Hell no! Many times lately this Momma Bear has had to retreat to her private den to wipe the tears or clear the lumps from her throat.


It's a sad reality - we raise our children to leave us. And if we've done a good job of readying them for the world it's likely that they're good kids - you know the kind you like to have around and not the kind you want out of the house sooner than later. And my cubs (so far) have been good kids - and now Matthew has one foot out the door and is so, so, so ready to be a Tiger at the woods of DePauw. And I want that for him, I really do. But I can feel the space he will leave empty in our den and tears well in my eyes.


(I had to take a little break there to wipe my eyes!)


While it is sad to watch them leave, it is incredibly joyful to watch them become the people they will be. I love talking with my cubs - and marvel at the adults they're becoming. And that is what I will hold on to in the coming months - that and the fact the Matthew, like his brother, will occasionally come back to the den.


It's bound to be an emotional couple months!
Matthew at his kindergarten Halloween party.

Comments

  1. When the chill-pill wears off.......RIP 'EM TO SHREDS MAMA BEAR!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

A Hole in My Heart Where Sandy Should Be

The past two days have passed with little joy and I find that I'm restless and cannot focus. I don't like being home because of the thousand reminders of my sweet Sandy and yet I can't be away because I don't feel like engaging in anything other than my own personal sorrow. Yes, she was 'just a dog' but oh what a dog she was. . . I learned a lot about loyalty and unconditional love from Sandy. And in that, I believe that God gives us these loving dogs so that we can learn a little about His love for us - that unconditional love. Even on my worst day when I might not have been paying much attention to Sandy, she was still there and still loving. Wow. There is no doubt in my mind that putting her down and out of her misery was the right thing for Sandy - she must have been so riddled with cancer and in such pain. Her last day she couldn't even keep water down; I imagine that her entire body must have been affected by the cancer. Then I think back to her last d...

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

I put my pride aside and got my ass off the grass and into the wheelchair. {I spent a couple minutes deciding whether to put an exclamation mark after that declaration or to put the period after that statement. I think the period better suits my mood about getting said ass into the wheelchair!} On July 4, Saugatuck has a wonderfully unique parade that includes quirky participants like the artsy-fartsy campers at OxBow art colony and the LGBT members of a local foundation along with the more traditional participants like Girl Scouts, fire trucks, and local politicians. It had been a couple years since I had been to the parade, this year, though, my Mom and sister were in town and I wanted to take them. So we loaded up in the van, including Kerri's wheelchair and my own. Once we parked, John asked if I wanted to use my chair and I initially balked but then remembered that it can be a long, hot parade and it might be better to have a place to sit. So, I acquiesced and took the cha...

Ch ... Ch ... Chemo

I was ready. I was prepared. The potential side-effect list was long and one I'd had some familiarity when John went through his treatment.  So I gathered my arsenal. I had my compazine, zofran and antivan. I had my ginger chewables and chicken noodle soup. I was armed and potentially dangerous. So, chemo day with the toxic chemo cocktail starting to do it's job, I envisioned it as either PacMan, eating away at the cancer cells or a Chia Pet, allowing my good cells to thrive. With these visions, (that aren't quite Christmas Eve sugar plums dancing) and tired from the chemo, I went to bed early. Friday, under the watchful eye of my caregiving hubby, I slept most of the day away. Not really hungry but not nauseous either. I spent the majority of the day horizontal on the couch listening to my book on Audible (despite the sleep timer, I probably missed 1/3 of what I 'read'), dozing, answering calls and texts, and snacking.  Perhaps the highlight of the ...