That Time the Black Bear Climbed into My Car

Well, a black-bear cub opened the back passenger door of my car this month and climbed in. From the paw prints and black hairs on the headliner, I can tell it also climbed up front and even stepped on the gear shift. It seems to have been after one cashew nut and a used Dum-Dum stick that were lodged in the door compartments. No, I’m not kidding. And – thankfully – my car is fine.

Isn’t this a little like how it feels to be alive right now? Like a black bear has climbed inside of our bodies and is poking and prodding, sniffing around? Like we don’t know when and where the claws will strike, so we can’t sit still? Like we all have to stay on high alert?

I can’t even remember what my “word for 2025” was, but I know what it’s feeling like now and it isn’t a word, it’s a phrase: curve ball. To continue the mixed metaphor, “When life gives you lemons…make lemonade” – right?

So that’s what we’re going to talk about. Lemonade. The good stuff.

May has been an incredibly rich and reassuring month for WRITEABILITY. The Guild selected three organizations to receive Redistribution Funds, held an annual meeting to discuss finances and membership, and traveled from near and far to meet in person for a weeklong residency at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. One day, I hope to share this experience with more people (maybe you!). What did we do when we were finally together, in person? We wrote and read and lounged. And also → capes, gua sha, black bears, square dances, formal readings, cold plunges, a 4.1 earthquake, epic meals, and countless laughs. Here’s a 1-min video collage made by one of our Guild Members:

It’s been a beautiful spring here in Appalachia and we are moving forward as a community, slowly, and staying close as family very consciously. This month, our road was finally repaired where a 100’ stretch of pavement was completely ripped up, slamming into adjacent houses before washing away or sinking into the ditch. The snarled wi-fi line that had been propped up by a large stick for seven months is now replaced with a proper pole. The relief centers are transitioning from doling out supplies (they still do; just not as frequently) to growing gardens for the community and seeking grant funding for community programs intended to address chronic needs that were exacerbated by Helene.

I still run into folks in town who I haven’t had time to reconnect with since the storm. Each time, we share our stories. One – a fellow artist and gardener whose child plays with River – had a landslide rip past her house. I can see the landslide, about a mile distant, from my road when I check my mailbox; a wide scar down one of the lower foothills to the Black Mountains. This one was only about 1/20th as long as the bigger ones that had us all trapped those first few days following the storm.

Meantime, these photos say it all!

• River has fallen in love with chapter books! Here he is after soccer practice, so intent on finishing the page that he wouldn’t even stop reading to get out of the car and come eat dinner!
• Yep, that’s the black bear; photographed through a screened window.
• Our kitty Dango curled into this epic garden squash from last winter! What would we do without our pets?
• River’s school hosted a “Shining Stars” dinner event and asked each student to invite one person who had made a positive influence in their lives; River chose Finn, his babysitter-who-I’m-not-allowed-to-call-a-babysitter because honestly these two are more like long lost BFF souls from another life. Most exciting for me? River finally fit into the hand-me-down seersucker suit my friend gave us six years ago!
• Plus–Coaching soccer! Fishing!
• And…this will break your heart…Below, see River and his two friends re-enacting Hurricane Helene with a different outcome, using an interactive water station during a field trip to the science museum. A parent chaperone stood by silently, observing this incredibly healing moment between the children, and sent me this photo. She reported that the children were completely unprompted in this activity; they imagined it and explored it all on their own. Healing! Resilience!

Thank you all so much for reading!

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