It may not be Spring yet, but old Flower Bear has just returned from a hibernation unlike those of winters past. She had to have one of her old hips replaced with a shiny new one. Now she is back home, awake, and learning to get around all over again just like a brand new bear cub. It has certainly been a learning experience.
Just when we think we've seen everything, experienced everything, and know everything that this old world can teach us, life has a way of sending a new experience to you out of the blue and the learning starts all over again. In some cases, it forces us to look back at what we thought we knew for sure and start looking at it from a different perspective. Other times it could be having to relearn how to do something we have been doing for so long that we just take it for granted, like walking. It's a humbling experience when you have to re-learn to how to put one paw in front of the other without falling down and feeling foolish while you're doing it. It's also frustrating when you have to ask for help because you can't do everything you always did for yourself, at least not yet.
So maybe the biggest lesson to come from out of all this is about having compassion for yourself, allowing yourself to take things as they come and loving yourself through the process. Maybe it's true what they say: you can teach an old bear new tricks!
And so it is.
