Belly-Up to the Bear

My sister-in-law --the one who says I'm "predictably unpredictable"--left a message on the machine the other day: "Hey, just thought I'd let you know that a bear is in the neighborhood."

She probably predicted my reaction to that tidbit of information.

The dog has been woefully under-exercised ever since.

Rationally, I understand that a black bear poses little threat to me and my family. I know it probably doesn't want to make my acquaintance, either. But it's presence introduces a variable into my world that I can't control, and I don't like it.

My niece and nephew, children of aforementioned sister-in-law, have a similar issue with my aforementioned dog. Now Lilly is just a big, fun-loving teddy bear. She goes belly-up in submissive acceptance of just about anything. The children have absolutely nothing to fear. Their mother thinks, though, that it is the unexpected - the unpredictable - about animals that they find frightful.

Problem for all of us is that life is full of animals we weren't expecting. The "bears" of bad tidings can come at any time, unpredictably. The wisest among us greet the unforeseen beasts which come our way as potential friends, and go belly-up.