Then Bluebird told G-Pop about her favorite things: her love of books (that she partially inherited from him) and about her favorite foods, meatballs at that time, and her favorite color which was purple. G-Pop wrote back about all the different books that offered him so much pleasure. He wrote that his favorite food was Italian and then he asked if wine was a food, because he liked that, too. Then somewhere in the middle of his letter he talked about his fascination with birds and bears and the collection of bears he had gathered from places like Colorado, Alaska and China and how G-Mom humors him by putting them on the mantle once a year. He said, Bears have always fascinated me—they are big, strong yet docile and funny at times. The instant I read those words I understood his kinship with the bear. G-Pop is a tall man, with silver hair as pure as a polar bears’ coat, he’s strong and yet the gentlest person I’ve ever encountered. In all the years I’ve known him I’ve hardly ever heard him raise his voice, but he is like the bear in his fierce regard for his children and grandchildren. Perhaps what makes him most like a bear is strength, inner strength. The bear doesn’t pick battles but when one comes looking for the bear you know he’ll fiercely fight it. And while he’s fighting his battle with cancer, this bear will take the time to look around the forest and call to his little birds, leaving them handwritten letters in books they’ll treasure forever.