The Jungle Book has long been one of my favorite movies -- not favorite animated but favorite. The Life of Balu the bear speaks so well to this complicated life we lead. He goes right for the basics and he finds them. Of course, then Mowgli comes along and raises the stakes for what's possible. Balu invests in him and comes to see him as his own. But in the end, Mowgli must go the man village as the uptight but wise Bagheera sees all along. And Balu is sad for a good 10 seconds. And then he's back at it. I admire this John Waynish sturdiness a great deal.

But I am not Balu, even though he speaks to me. I am not carefree. I am not easy come - easy go. Maybe that's why I need him as my friend. Just being in his proximity, I can almost believe my neurotic worries are just blips on a radar and there's a prickly pear just around the corner that I shouldn't miss. Maybe when I'm older I shall be warm and sturdy like him - tho perhaps not larger than life.