Saying Goodbye

Today marks the end of my summer stint at Fortress of the Bear and I'm caught in a swirl of emotions right now. I was able to squeeze in one last training session with Chaik and Killisnoo and said my goodbyes while feeding them grapes. While Toby (who we recently discovered is actually a female - oops!), Baloo, and Lucky have been a lot of fun, I didn't bond with them in the way that I did the big boys (and little Seek months ago) and now I must face the emptiness of daily life without them. Of the many lessons that I have learned from these bears - and those will be discussed in greater detail later - perhaps the most valuable is that friendship and love are universal concepts that truly know no bounds. Thank you, boys, for showing me what I had previously only imagined. You will be deeply missed!!