What are the chances that, with a couple of hours to fill between my sister’s radiation oncology appointments, we would find ourselves a few feet from an uncaged mamma bear and her two cubs?
A reflection by Danny Schweers for May 31, 2026.
With 30,000 black bears in California, seeing three of them in a city park is hardly miraculous. The point I want to make has to do with expectation, wonder, and surprise. If your sister has been diagnosed with sarcomatoid carcinoma, you too would want to leave room for unexpected good. We are not looking for a miraculous cure but, at the same time, we do not want to feel doomed by statistics. We can live in hope, can’t we?
My sisters often go looking for the unexpected. They often travel together and, when they have a couple hours to fill, they look at a map and wonder what promising place they might explore in the time they have.
Look! Here is a city park going up into the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains! Let’s explore it!
Ten minutes after finishing our lunch in downtown Monrovia, we were on switchbacks going up a canyon. Suddenly we came to a stop. Two park rangers were in the road, their vehicle blocking our progress. Then we saw momma bear coming down the hillside onto the road followed by her two cubs catching up. What a sight!
The bears walked down the road towards us. They passed right next to our pickup truck, then continued down a hiking path. Those cubs were so cute, cuddly, and playful — not that we were going to play with them. Mamma bears with cubs are known to be aggressive and powerful, the symbol of fierce maternal protection. As they passed, I wondered if I should have my window rolled up. I did not make any sudden moves.
All of us have time to fill. We have time to do explore. We can leave room for the unexpected good to find us.
My prayer for my sister is that her sense of wonder would remain in spite of whatever progress the cancer may make. Yes, I pray for her cancer to disappear; I pray for the miraculous; but even murderous cancer at its most mundane cannot kill life‘s ever-unfolding possibilities. I pray that my sister would retain her sense of hope, wonder, and surprise when welcoming whatever end may find her, a year from now or fifteen. I pray the same and more for you and yours.
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Reflection 2026-08 by Danny Nelson Schweers. Danny chairs SsAM’s Communication Committee. He is an active photographer and writer. Click here to visit his website and make a comment.
