Once upon a time, people connected with people simply and directly.  They took the time to nurture personal relationships.  Then it all got crazy, fast paced, and hectic and people didn’t have time to pay attention to other people.  The Vermont Teddy Bear Company believes that showing how much you care simply and directly can make the world a better place - more personal, positive, friendly, and fun.  In today’s world where there is never enough time to communicate how you feel, nothing says you care like a bear.

- The Vermont Teddy Bear Factory in Shelburne, VT

So this past weekend, after YEARS of being a loyal VTB customer, I made the trek to the Mecca of it all.  I went to the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory.  Granted we went on a Saturday when there was no actual production going on.  Granted we went after I got up on the wrong side of the bed from a conference with Squishy Dawg.  Granted it was more of a shopping trip (yes, that is an orange hat with bear ears on it that I totally from the shop) than a spiritual pilgrimage.  Still, allow me to assure you… it was as magical as I expected it to be.

The quote above (that ironically is located in the shop above the cash registers), is really what drove it home for me.  I felt as if they unknowingly echoed my own thoughts… or perhaps I had unknowingly echoed theirs.  It was a simple reminder of a simpler time where everything was… well… simpler.

It’s the simplest of things that have become so complicated… and therefore have complicated everything around them… and the more things get complicated, the more overloaded we as people become.  Thus, we forget about the simple things.  Like the fact that if you care, send a bear…

So I’m sending this bear to: Poppy, Avitable, Karl, Hilly, Britt, Yoshi, Sodapop, Tori, Lisa, and Miss Ann.  Just because… and it isn’t that I don’t care about anyone else… but I kept it at 10 to keep it simple.

The Beary Best Award

Rules

• 1) The Beary Best Award is given to those people who we want to know we care… just because
• 2) See rule #1

Badge Code

Just copy and paste:

<a href="http://www.apileofdogbones.com/index.php/site/just_be_bear/" target="_blank" title="Just Be Bear"><img src="http://apileofdogbones.com/pawed/bearybest.jpg" width="125" height="125" border="0" alt="You Are The Beary Best"></a>

Just keepin’ it simple… since life is complicated enough.