Good-bye Tai Shan

 I was so sorry to hear that my favorite panda bear is headed to China. Tai Shan was the first baby panda  born into captivity to survive infancy (I guess that makes him First Panda).  I followed his story and wanted so much to see the little bear in person.  When I finally visited our nation’s capitol, the National Zoo was on my list of places to see.   Tai Shan had just turned two years old when I met him one hot July afternoon and he looked so chubby and cuddly in his little fur suit but my heart went out to him.  If I was overheated in a sun dress, I can’t imagine how uncomfortable he was.  Pandas love the winter, and the snow storm that traveled through Washington this week, dumping snow on our capitol, was a fitting send off from mother nature.  Good bye and good luck little American bear, may the people in China care and love you as much as the people of these united states do.