happy birthday mama bear

We call my mom Mama Bear. She used to get so mad at my youngest brothers when they would call her this. She thought they were commenting on her nature and that they thought she was grouchy like a bear or something. Then my brother J (I think it was him) explained why they called her this.

Mom rescued a tiny, black baby kitten. For the longest time, it was so tiny that the palm of her hand dwarfed it. She fed it with a medicine dropper and it grew until it was a tiny fist size ball of black fur that stuck out all over. He was the cutest little kitten, so funny looking. When he sucked down his milk, his ears would curl up and we would all laugh.

Then we all read an article from the Reader's Digest about a family who adopted a black bear cub and named it Little Bit. One of my brothers thought that the little ball fur looked like Little Bit when he curled his ears back, so the name stuck for the cat. And Mom became Mother Bear or Mama Bear depending on our mood. The cat grew up to be quite the handful and earned himself the nickname of Little Sh*t.

Well, when Mom found this out, she liked her nickname and it's stuck ever since. And now we are the Boyer Bears as well. We have Papa Bear, Christine-a-Bear, Raynbo Bear, Roberto Bear, Becky Bear, Jonny Bear and Christo Bear. It's a fun tradition.

Mama Bear totally lives up to her nickname as well. She is pretty ferocious in defending her family and taking of all her cubs. I certainly do love her!

Happy birthday, Mama Bear. I'm glad you're my mom.

I love this photo! She has the best laugh ever.

Two of my favorite moms in Paradise. 

(Thanks for the photo Jim!)

And Grandma Bear too!