Skywalk & Bears Story Starter: Shared Spaces
Detail from Skywalk and Bears greeting card.
I live in town.
There are sidewalks and neighbors and familiar routines - there are also bears. Most of the time, we know they’re nearby not because we see them, but because of the evidence they leave behind. A tipped-over bird feeder or trash can. Tracks pressed into soft ground. A trail camera image shared the next morning.
Living in the Pennsylvania Wilds means understanding that wildlife doesn’t live “somewhere else.” It moves through the same landscapes we do, often unseen. Most days, our paths overlap without crossing. We go about our business. So do they.
The Skywalk and Bears image was created with that quiet coexistence in mind. It isn’t about a dramatic encounter or a once-in-a-lifetime sighting. It’s about shared space. Forests, valleys, and waterways hold many lives at once, each moving according to its own needs and rhythms. Some leave footprints. Some leave shadows. Some leave no trace at all.
This Story Starter grew from that awareness.
Photo Credit: Sue Schaffner
Prompt excerpt
...Most days, our lives overlap without meeting. Bears leave tracks pressed into soft earth. Eagles leave shadows that pass too quickly to notice. People cross bridges, walk trails, and travel roads, often unaware of how much is happening just out of view.
And then, once in a while, timing shifts...
Download your free “Shared Spaces” Story Starter here.
The Shared Spaces Story Starter is an invitation to imagine those unseen lives and to consider what it means to notice them. Not to interrupt. But to be aware, and perhaps even conjure up what could be possible.
Why This Story Matters to Me
Over time we’ve lost a few bird feeders to our wild neighbors, and I’ve had one moment when the overlap of shared space became unmistakably clear. One autumn afternoon, while painting along a quiet stretch near Potato Creek, I looked up to find a black bear and her cubs moving through the same place I was. In that pause, I stayed still. They slowly passed through. And then they were gone.
Nothing remarkable happened — and that was the point.
That moment changed how I think about the places I move through. Not as destinations or backdrops, but as shared ground. Places shaped over time by many lives, most of which remain just out of view.
This prompt is part of Tell Me a Wilds Story, a six-week series inspired by images from the PA Wilds Collaborative Series Postcards | Greeting Cards. Each Story Starter offers a place to begin — and then steps aside, leaving the rest of the story in your hands.