My Aunt Beth lives in a beautiful little spot of earth on the side of a small mountain in the south eastern U.S. We love visiting her and taking rides through the mountains, etc. One of things our girls remember about her house is her dog Zoey, whom they claim to love. Bella has a right to the claim, Sophia, not so much. She does remember being scared of the dog, but probably not as much as she really was. She still says she likes Zoey and we often talk about her.
Beth recently wrote an email and told a story of being woken up by a bear on her porch (two times!). Whoa!
I, in dramatic fashion, retold the story to Bella and Sophia over breakfast one morning. They LOVED it! They thought it was so cool, the tension, the way Beth turned the light on and tapped on the window. How, in the middle of the night she brought in bird feeders and other things he may be after. I explained how bears are always hungry in spring (which they remember from the 'Little House' book). And how the bear came back! We did pray for Beth, and Zoey, and their protection, of course. They were glad God had protected them.
They asked if we had ever seen bears. I had to tell my story of my Grandma Pinnie taking the grandkids to New Mexico one summer to a camp. I, again, with great drama and emphasis, told how we hiked up a mountain, left our food at a cabin and went exploring. I told them how the counselors warned us what to do in case we saw a bear (make really loud noises, and walk slowly away). When we came back to our food, our huge Oatmeal cookies had paw prints in them (dramatic emphasis), and there we saw them, I thought they were huge dogs. A momma bear and two cubs! The absolute worst situation to be in when happening upon some bears, because a momma is going to fight for her babies. So we all screamed and sang at the top of our lungs, and quickly lined up and walked away. This was the same story where I peed in my pants on the way back down the mountain because I didn't like going to the bathroom outside.
Every morning that whole week the girls asked to hear 'Aunt Beth's bear story...and yours too mama!'
Every. Morning.
And after one rendering....'tell it again mama!'
And then later, when Bella started thinking about details, she would ask, 'and Aunt Beth comforted you when you peed in your pants?' 'no honey, it was Grandma Pinnie'. And 'how big were your cookies?' and 'why didn't you like to go the bathroom outside?' (in this country kids always use the bathroom outside). This story entertained us for a whole week! We do hope and pray that the bear does not go back to Aunt Beth's house. And we are thankful for Zoey, and her sense about things!
