Do you want to know a secret?

“Do you want to know a secret?

Do you promise not to tell?”

~ Beatles, 1963

OK, you can tell; after all, I’m choosing to share this secret with ALL of you. Oh, but wait, there is a preamble to my sharing. I suspect each of us has secrets regarding activities in which we engage, secrets that might appear embarrassing to others. (You don’t? Get real!) OMG, what would people think if I….fill-in-the-blank? But wait, doing these things makes me happy!

‘Nough said. I’m going forward with bringing one of my secret passions out of the closet. Embarrassing? What the heck…

Here we go!

I love October because it brings Fat Bear Week. Yes, you read that correctly - “Fat Bear Week.” Should you care? Or even bother to read this screed about Alaskan Brown Bears Really, Really PORKING Up For Six Months Of Hibernation? That’s up to you, of course, but let me offer a vastly different frame of reference to explain my secret passion: “The Turkey earthquake, Libyan flooding, and Ukraine.” At the end of the last sentence, I found my breath catching in my throat, unable to exhale fully. Just thinking about “The Turkey earthquake, Libyan flooding, and Ukraine” leaves me gasping for air. That’s why it’s so worth celebrating the National Park Service’s Fat Bear Week. Because I can begin breathing again. Something all humans deserve, even in difficult times.

What helps us breathe more easily in our lives? (Just writing this sentence elicited a gentle sigh from me. Nice.) Each year about this time I post on our neighborhood listserv an announcement regarding Fat Bear Week and the Fat Bear voting brackets. Granted, we live in the South and these Alaskan brown bears are a tad distant from us. However, there’s something so endearing about watching bears, after 24/7 salmon-fishing for 3 months, in rushing cold water, drag their huge salmon-laden bellies up river embankments, occasionally having to maneuver around protruding rocks, which create obstacles for very low-hanging bear tummies. (I thought that sentence would never end!)

Please, please don’t tell the bears I’m giggling in delight at their hibernation coping mechanisms. Totally Unenlightened Human here, but it is funny, AND gives me joy. Joy in a world burdened with devastating loss and war. Joy….because I’m being authentically myself even if it’s embarrassing.

Seems apropos to close with another line from a Beatles song, “You'll never know how much I care.” Even with qualms and possible embarrassment, sharing some of our small, impassioned-with-goodness, secret behaviors encourages our collective humanity. Hey, take the risk…

For the uninitiated, National Park Service Fat Bear Week begins October 4, 2023: https://www.nps.gov/katm/learn/fat-bear-week.htm