Finding Friends

Once upon a time there was a very large bear. He was so large that he found it difficult to fit in with the rest of the bears in his part of the neighborhood. Granted, his neighborhood was fairly large since he was living at the North pole but he was so big that he found it difficult to fit in. The other bears had friends and family and many of his buddies that he grew up with had girlfriend bears and he was very lonely.
One day when he was walking around wishing he had at least a best friend he walked around a big block of ice and just as he got on the other side he saw a very small penguin. The penguin looked up and was very startled and didn't know which way to run but the bear, who was feeling very lonely indeed, just sat down and stared at the penguin. He just wanted the penguin to know that he wasn't going to hurt him and he wasn't particularly hungry or anything and bears don't really like to eat penguins anyway. So he just sat down and looked at the penguin with a sorrowful look in his eyes.
The penguin noticed that there was something wrong with the bear and he tentatively stepped forward and got a little closer and said, "Are...are you alright?"
Bear said, "I'm so lonely." And penguin said, "Oh I know what you mean! Look at me," penguin said, "I'm so little!" Bear seemed to notice penguin for the first time and said, "You are unusually small. I've seen a lot of penguins in my time and I just thought you were a young one but you're all grown up - I can tell."
"Yes" penguin said, "I'm all grown up but I'm so small that no one really wants to be with me. They all think that I'm strange. Do you know what I mean?"
"Oh yes!" said bear, "It's just the way for me. I'm so big that none of my friends that I grew up with wants to be with me either."
"Ohhhh," said penguin and he sat down and they sat there very mournfully for a long time looking at each other with sad eyes until all of a sudden almost at the same time they both got an idea. Bear was the first to say it, "Say," he said, "Do you know what?" And penguin said, "I think I do!"
"Yes" bear said, "We could be friends! I mean, I'm awfully big but..." Before he had a chance to say anything penguin said, "And I'm so small but..." And they both said it at the same time, "We could be best friends!"
They smiled at each other and for the first time in their lives even though they were both very different from each other and very different from their own people they realized that they had a chance to have a best friend and they remained best friends for the rest of their lives even though penguin did eventually find someone that wanted to be with him and bear eventually found someone who wanted to be with him, they always lived near each other so that they could talk to each other and be around each other all the time and they were best friends.
Bear was Uncle Bear to penguins children and penguin was Uncle Penguin to bears children. It just goes to show that no matter how big you are or how small you are, no matter how different you are, no matter how unusual you are, there's always a best friend waiting for you right around the next corner. Sometimes you just have to look.
Goodlife to you all and have a very merry holiday season.