LILY THE AMERICAN BLACK BEAR

I LOVE LILY!

and No... I didn't take this picture!!!

Lily is a super-star... and Lily is in Labor!!!! She is going to have those babies any minute now and it is being viewed by thousands of people "live on the web, via a live cam"...

http://www.bear.org/

AND... I am addicted to this site, (thanks to Joan and granddaughter Olivia I might add)!!! "Oh Nana, are you watching Lily... Look she moved right now!!!"  And so it began; the author of Healing Heartaches; sitting on the Lanai; coffee in hand  ~ ~ ~ not one, but two laptops on the table... the phone nearby... Joan will be calling any minute for an update as she drives to work I just know it!

One laptop already tuned into http://www.bear.org/  and I watch... with eyes glued to the screen... Lily is breathing! Whew... I am hooked; I am fascinated, I am with bear spirit ~ ~ ~

Laptop two: OK, I have to get some work done... much to do today! OOPS... I caught Lily move out of the corner of my eye!

OH MY, Lily is on the move... PHONE RINGS... "Hello Joan?

Quick, turn the computer on, Lily is up... she is smiling at me!!! Yes Yes I know it is early but YOU GOT ME ADDICTED TO LILY!!! Quick, turn it on, look she is sticking her tongue out, isn't she beautiful...."  And so it goes, another Lily day!!!

OK, I have to let others know of this wonderment... I'll text my chiropractor;  ummm, let's see, "Dr Gallagher, please check out Lily the black bear in her den" hahaha

I'll post it on facebook, I'll call and email everyone...

great.... now I can't get on to see Lily... the web is overflowing with people watching Lily. ABC news has picked it up... Whatever was I thinking by calling everyone and posting it everywhere... oh no... whatever will Lily do without me. Thank goodness my best friend was not impressed. She thinks watching the live feed is rather like "watching paint dry", at least I don't have to compete with her!  Whew....

At last count there were more than 6200 watching the live web cam...  can you imagine?  We are all watching a black bear in her den!  At best we get to see her move a little; we get to look in her beautiful eye, see her massive paw and her claws, we get to observe her beauty and her majesty as she prepares to bring her cubs into the world.  And we are mesmerized by it all...

Lily is three years old; her birthday was yesterday! She is in her den in Minnesota where it is some kinda cold.  Lily is hibernating in her den where someone brilliant has installed a web cam with infrared light so that they can conduct research...

She has history with these researchers; she is a part of a long time study of the American black bear, where you can dig a little deeper at the website for all the information you could ever want about the bear study. Lily has won the hearts of many.

And do you want to know what is even more remarkable? Lily has a fan page on facebook with 42,573 fans!!!!!  Now I currently have 472 fans and that is with continual marketing and begging and pleading... I am told that one can only have 5,000 fans max on facebook... Oh, but what I would do to get 5,000 fans ~ ~ ~

LILY HAS 43,573 FANS AND GROWING

YOU GO LILY!!!

So fast forward a bit and then we get back to my very best friend... Now she has taken her laptop and logged on to http://www.bear.org/

No longer does she say, "This is as much fun as watching paint dry"... OH noooo, another Lily addict! Yep, she is on the Lily watch; each move, each hiccup, each baby jump in the ole' belly... another one hooked by the majesty and sweetness of Lily.  We are enchanted. We love Lily; she takes us away from the troubles of the world, the rhythm of her breathing is balm for the soul, her eyes are mirrors of our own beauty. There is a remarkable pureness about Lily the Black Bear... she is not interrupted by humans, not intertwined with their troubles, she is just Lily; in her den, doing what bears do in winter...

She will have her cubs and alone she will birth them, clean them, tend to them... she will give them what they need, oversee their behaviors; guide and groom them and in a mere year, they will sleep through their first birthday without pomp or circumstance and then will be off to the wild... and Lily will have done well...

If we can keep her safe from the humans and the guns and the hunters.

The phone is ringing... "Hello Joan; Hi Olivia... Nana here... Nooo you can't stay up all night watching Lily. I know you want to see her when the babies come... Nooo I don't think she will have them without you watching... Yes I think we should go to sleep and if they come while we are sleeping it will be because Lily wanted some privacy... Sure it will be fine.... OK, nite nite girls... Nana Loves you both."

http://www.bear.org/

Did I mention that you can make donations to the Lily fund or to the bear.org?

And... did I mention that Lily has 42,573 fans?

hahaha

Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all! I think Helen Keller said that, but I bet if Lily could she might be thinking that . . .

OK, here is the real truth... this is being written the night before the post, because I plan to be very busy in the am watching and cheering Lily on.

Healing Heartaches speaks to the power of bear totem/bear spirit... and now we are able to watch the black bear, in her environment, preparing to birth her cubs... talk about power and spirit...

Gotta go... time to check on Lily!

Walk In Beauty,

author of Healing Heartaches, Stories of Loss & Life

http://www.healingheartaches.com/