Oh hi. It’s me, Baby Bear.
Today was a two-yellow-ball day. Those are my favorite kinds of days because it means Summer and I both get to be important at the same time. I had my ball, and she had her ball, and we lay in the grass as we worked very hard to earn them. Which we did. Running is very serious work.
The grass was soft and a little cool under my belly. I like that feeling. It makes me want to stay still for just a minute, even though I don’t stay still very long. Summer was next to me, holding her ball like it was the best ball in the whole world. I think she thinks that every time. I think that about mine too.
Sometimes I look at her ball and wonder if it might actually be better than mine.
That is called a problem.
But today I decided to be a good boy. I stayed with my own ball. I chewed it a little, carried it around, and then lay down again, like I was posing for something important. Mom had that look on her face like she was smiling with her eyes. That means we are doing a good job.
These yellow balls are special. I remember Uncle Teddy, loved them very much. I think he would have liked watching us today. I think he would have told us we were doing it right.
Maybe he would have taken both balls. Just to make sure.
When the sun gets warm, and the yard is quiet, I feel like he is still here in a soft way. Not running like us, but watching. Making sure I am taking care of Mom and Dad as I promised. I try very hard to do my job, even when I am playing.
Summer doesn’t know all of that. She just knows how to have fun. She smiles with her whole face, and her tongue falls out, and she makes everything feel easy. I like that about her. She helps me remember that playing is part of my job too.
So we lay there together, two dogs, two yellow balls, and one very big sky above us.
I think Teddy would have liked this day.
I know I did. ❤️🐾
Mom’s Reflection
There are moments when I watch Bear and Summer together, and I feel two things at once. Joy and remembrance. Joy in the life unfolding right in front of me, and remembrance of the life that shaped so much of what we still carry forward.
Those yellow balls are more than toys in our home. They are little pieces of Teddy. He loved them with such focus and determination, as if each one held a purpose only he fully understood. Watching Bear now, lying in the grass with his own ball, I see echoes of Teddy in him. Not the same, never the same, but connected in a quiet and beautiful way.
Bear is still my little boy. Playful, curious, sometimes mischievous, always trying. But there is something new in him, too. A softness mixed with responsibility. As if he understands, in his own way, that he is helping to carry love forward.
Summer brings out his lightness. She reminds him, and me, that joy still belongs here. That laughter and play are not things we leave behind when we grieve, but things that help us keep going.
And maybe that is what healing looks like. Not moving on, but moving forward while still holding on. A yard filled with sunshine. Two dogs resting in the grass. Two yellow balls. And the quiet presence of a soul dog who taught us how to love in the first place.
Every day is a humbling day. ❤️🐾
