By last Friday, I felt like the grieving was eating my brain. I told my husband that I just couldn't take it anymore. It was either me...or my grief.  I told him I just had to go somewhere, anywhere that wasn't a reminder of everything I am grieving over. If I had my choice of destinations, I would have run away to a deserted beach by an ocean, like the lovely oceans in JO B's photos. But since the ocean nearest my home is about a thousand miles away, I had to chose somewhere else. So I ran away to a forest. I hiked so deep into the middle of that forest, you could hear a pin drop, the silence was that deafening. And I went there alone. Not a smart choice, I realize, for a woman to go there alone, but... It was what I needed.  To be in a place of such beauty, with clear blue skies overhead and warm rays of sunshine slanting down through the trees. I sat down by a clear stream and listened to the water softly gurgling through the rocks.  The weather was warm as springtime, and I spotted little cottontail bunny rabbits scampering into the brush. This place was so full of life and beauty; it was like DEATH couldn't come near it. I could strongly feel God's love in this place. I didn't want to leave. Ever! But when the sun started sliding down the western sky, I knew I had to go back.  And I knew my grief would be waiting at home for me. So I snapped alot of pictures, hoping I could recapture some of the beauty of the day and maybe it would provide some comfort, if only in small measure.   When I got just a couple of miles to where my car was, I spotted it: a large black bear not nearly far enough away.  "Just great!" I thought. I came here to get away from my grief, now I am probably going to be EATEN and become someone else's reason to grieve!" As I stood there motionless, I realized that the bear did too. Too motionless! I took a few steps forward, but he didn't move. So I took a few steps more...( one good thing about my grief--it makes me braver than I normally would be. Or more stupid!)  And I came very close to the bear...and then had the first good laugh I have had in a long time. It wasn't REAL. Some prankster had carved out a wooden one and painted it black. It looks quite realistic from a distance.    I snapped a photo of him, as well.  I wish I could say that the lightened state of my grief remained until today.  No, the grief is still with me.  But at least for that moment, I saw a glimmer of hope slanting down with the winter sunshine's rays...