20 year old wish comes true.

I live in the woods.

Have lived here for 23 years.

I've always thought it looks kind of "beary" here. Bears have been sighted in our area many times over the years, but never here. Never.

I'm always on the lookout for wildlife. My kitchen windows give me a wonderful view of the woods and mountains. I see lots of deer, foxes, deer, groundhogs, Canadian geese, deer, and squirrels. Never a bear.

That all changed last night. My wish came true.

We were having a lovely dinner with Smit and Janet Smith. Just sitting there visiting and enjoying some Down Home Chicken and Rice, green beans, salad, and rolls; catching up on the years gone by. The peace and laidbackness of our dinner was shattered when Bear, our miniature poodle, suddenly went crazy barking.

He almost never barks. I'm serious. He really doesn't.

He dashed back and forth between windows barking his fool head off. I was a bit embarrassed at first. Why must the dog bark when company is here? We sent Conni from the table to go see what was wrong with her dog. I really didn't care what it was...just wanted him to shut up and disappear.

Conni left the table and conversation kept going like the rude interruption never happened. All was good.

Then from the other room:
"Oh my goodness! It's a bear! It's a bear!"

Then Bear (the dog) went crazy again.

You've never seen a table full of people evacuate so quickly!

We had a bit of a traffic jam trying to get all 9 of us out the door at the same time.

(I was so excited. I so hoped Conni was right and it was a bear.)

And sure enough! There it was right beside the house where we park. A black bear! Not out in the woods; not over the neighbors fence; but right in my yard!

As we all gathered around, it ambled off into the woods. We watched it for a few minutes until it disappeared into the underbrush.

I don't know how old, how big, how heavy the bear was. I know it was not a cub. Probably a young adult. Tim said it was a good size bear for here. Down on all fours, it would've come up almost to my hip.

As we went back to our dinner, I smiled and felt pretty smug.

I have now seen a bear in the wild here at my house.

See? Wishes do come true. Some just take a while.