Last week, a bear was hit by a truck in front of our farmhouse and grievously injured. The 247 pound male managed to crawl over our fence and into our pasture where he collapsed, and was eventually shot and killed by a state environmental police and game officer.
Our friend Ed Gulley, a diary farmer, happened to be visiting us at that moment. He wanted to take the bear home, for the skin, for the meat. He is perhaps the only person we know who would know how to do that or want to do that and we all are still asking ourselves why the bear – bears are spirit animals to us and many others – came to us at that time and place and why Ed came to us as well.
The bear was a beautiful animal, Maria and I were deeply moved by his coming and his death. Also by Ed – I call him our own Daniel Boone – who was deeply affected by him.
There is such a thing as an accident and many things happen randomly, but this one seemed to have meaning to us, a number of different elements seemed to come together seamlessly. Somehow, it felt it was all meant to be. We all believed the bear came to our pasture for a reason.
We went to see the Gulleys today, they were having a July Fourth dinner and clambake with their family, and were kid enough to invite us.
Maria and I sat down next to Ed and he said he had been thinking about the bear – he cried while going to work on it at home.
“I was thinking,” he said, “the bear, a young male, was looking to find and mark his own territory, that’s what they do when they leave their mothers, he was crossing the street and heading into the woods and hills across the road. You and Maria have been helping me to do the same thing, I want to expand my territory as a writer and an artist and that’s why he came to where I was, we both are doing the same thing. I think that’s why he came.”
We don’t know for sure why he came, of course, but Ed’s idea made sense to Maria and to me. It was so curious that he came at that time, when we were all out, when Ed was here, and when Ed could take him home and honor his death.
Ed is a remarkable man and a good friend. He is big, gruff, profane and colorful, yet he has the heart of an artist, a poet and a mystic. He is a spirit creature himself, and his idea makes sense to me. You can see his and his wife Carol’s blog here.