While we're on the subject of bears...

I have to share a story that is definitely one of the dumber moments of my life. Well, except for the time we showed up at the Atlanta airport for a trip to the Cayman Islands without our passports. We didn't just 'forget them,' that could be excused. No, it never even occured to us we would need passports (to leave the country after 9/11) until we were walking up to the INTERNATIONAL check-in at the airport and looked at each other and said, "Ummm, did you think about passports?" I digress.

Back to bears. When we moved to Charlottesville, I had lived my entire 27 1/2 years in either Georgia or Alabama. The office I worked in was on the opposite side of town from our apartment. I could either go through the most congested parts of town or drive on these beautiful, winding backroads through Virginia farmland. Most days, I chose the latter.

Within the first month of our arrival, I was driving home from work one afternoon on a desolate road, when I came around a curve and saw a LARGE black bear on the right side of the road. As he saw me, he stood up on his back legs. I swear, in my memory he was 6 feet tall. Anyway, since my only previous bear sightings had been in zoos or the occasional Atlanta evening news report of a capture in a residential neighborhood, I did what seemed to me the sensible thing. I called 911.

As the dispatcher answered, I was starting to doubt my decision. But, I convinced myself I was being a good citizen, helping rid the back country of dangerous wild bears.
Dipatcher: "911, what's your emergency?"
Me: "I just saw a bear."
Dispatcher: "Mm-hmm?"
Me: "I just moved here from Georgia. In Georgia, if we saw a bear in a residential area it was big deal, so I thought I'd call in case it was the same way here." (I winced as I heard myself talking. Just hang up. Bail now!)
Dispatcher: "Ma'am? Where are you?"
I don't remember the exact name of the road, but, seriously, it was something like Butts Farm Road--CLEARLY rural.
Dispatcher: "What is the bear doing?"
Me: "Crossing the road..." (Again, I winced. I was having visions of hearing the recording of this call on the local morning radio program the next day as EVERYONE IN AMERICA made fun of the dumb Georgia girl.)
Dispatcher: "Is he chasing anybody?" (She said this very flatly...how, I have no idea. I guess she is accustomed to crazy calls.)
Me: "No..."
Dispatcher: "Ma'am, here in Virginia, we do see the occasional bear. If they are chasing people or otherwise threatening human safety, you should call us. But if they are minding their own business, no need to get us involved."
Me: "Thank you." (DY-ING of humiliation!!!)

A few days later, there was a major traffic jam a couple of miles from where this all happened. It all started because someone hit a bear. I have always wondered if it was the same one--and if that 911 dispatcher thought of me.