What made my day worth it....

I spoke with a really interesting woman earlier. She was a black woman in her mid 60's that was training to learn dogsledding. She wanted to be the first black woman to dogsled in Antartica. She was filled with a whole hearted laughter that made me feel warm and protected and secure, even though it may have seemed just this side of crazy. At the end of our conversation, she told me a story about her trip to Manitoba. They were travelling in this sub zero weather on a tall platform transporter and everything was covered in snow. "Everything was white around except for me." They spotted a bear in the woods and he came towards the transporter, his fur as white as the snow. "he was staring at me from the moment he saw me." He came up to the transporter and stood up and was about 8 feet tall. With the bear still staring directly at this woman, the bear cleared his throat. "Suddenly the bear was speaking. Do you know what that bear said?" I was sitting on the edge of my seat listening to this story like a little kid, eager to find out what the bear said. "That bear said, Oh Damn. There goes the neighborhood. (HAHAHAHAHA as the woman laughs that comforting laugh). I told that bear to shut his Nazi a@@ up and get on."

Talking with this person and hearing this story was the highlight of my day. Oddly enough, I have this juvenile feeling of awe that you know from the first time you read THE POLAR EXPRESS. Yeah, odd but enlightening.