C is for company

Hi, my name is Betty Bear. The human who keeps this blog woke up briefly and, before she went back to sleep, asked me to write a guest post for her. She said, in a very sleepy voice, that she would write her own blog post later on today.

Today, I am going to talk about company. The company you keep. The company you wish you could keep, but who don’t want to keep company with you. The company you keep that brings you joy and the company you keep that fills your heart with love, with knowing that you are enough, just as you are.

When I was a cub, one of the things that I enjoyed the most was listening to the stories that my uncle told me. I was so happy to see him because he had been gone for a few years on an extended sea voyage. He’s kind of retired now, but he still likes taking off without notice in his small sailboat. Back then, he was the captain of a large sailing ship and he sailed around the world. His name is Bearnacle Bear, and he loves the sea more than anyone that I’ve ever met.

(me as a bear cub)

Bearnacle Bear told me about the sea monster that became his guide and his best friend. He said that humans were afraid of the sea monster, who had different names, depending on where he was visiting. Among his names were Loch Ness Monster, the Kraken, Giant Squid, or even a Harbinger of Doom. He said that humans tried to hunt down and destroy the sea monster without knowing him because Fear for them is greater than Kindness. Bearnacle Bear said that, when he embarked on his first sea voyage, he saw the sea monster only from a distance. He could hear the sea monster’s song from a distance. It was a low song, like a foghorn, but to Bearnacle Bear, it was like a beacon in the night, directing him on how to travel safely, especially when the clouds covered the stars.

“I will tell you much more about the Sea Monster and the Mermaid soon,” Bearnacle told me. “It’s time for you to go home because the day of hibernation is at hand.”

As I look back on the stories that Bearnacle told me when I was a cub, I think about who we choose to keep company with and the gifts that each of them bring to us through stories, songs, art, dance, and just by being. I think about the visitors that we’ve received from different lands because Bearnacle has brought them here: the giants, the bubbleheads, the humans, the critters that have no name but who do have stories. And I think that, all I have to do is to listen, and the stories are there, just waiting.

In my next guest post, I will interview Bearnacle Bear!