Interview with Bear Harden

1. What is your full name?  Barret Adam Harden. Folks around these parts call me Bear. 

2. Who is in your immediate family? Enoch and Jane Harden are my folks. My older brother is Crock and younger brother is West. Ain’t got no more than that.
3. Who do you get along with most? Least? I reckon I  get along the most with my wife, Clara. I don’t got anyone I get along with the least. There are some folks in town that rub me the wrong way, but I can’t show it since I own the mercantile.
4. Who is your most important relationship? The Lord. Then my wife followed by my children.
5. How do you live? (are you neat, messy?)  I’m a  fairly neat fella, but after being married, well, I suppose I’m a tad messier than I thought. Clara tends to pick up after me more than she ought to.
6. What is your favourite food and color? Give me anything with meat. Maybe that’s due to livin’ on a ranch, but a good piece of steak or chicken is one of God’s best food choices. Favorite color? Well, raven black. After my wife’s eyes.
7. What is your biggest pet peeve? It puts a real burr in my saddle when folks don’t follow through with what they say they’re gonna do.
8. What is your biggest secret? I received a letter from back east regarding Clara’s brother. I haven’t told her about it yet.
9. What is your favourite childhood memory? I have a lot of ’em, to be honest. And they all have my brothers in ’em. One favorite memory is when we were playin’ in the creek behind our ranch. Crock had no idea what was comin’ his way, but West and I attacked him on each side. Back then, it took both of us to take ‘im down. We wrestled for a good long while in the creek that day, and many days. Best of times in my childhood were with those two.
10. What one moment from your past affects you today? When Ma got hurt on the ranch. We thought she was gonna die. Shook me to the core and made me realize how much I needed her in my life.
11. What do you want more than anything? I want my children to love the Lord and follow Him. I want them to be fulfilled in their lives, no matter what comes their way. And I want to grow old with Clara always by my side.
12. What is your ideal life? To have my children close by. Not happenin’, I know. It’s every parent’s dream, ain’t it? To be a part of their child’s life. No matter what, I trust the Lord with ’em, even if they are livin’ in the same town or somewhere in Nebraska.

13. What is one piece of wisdom you want to share? Always keep your eyes on the Lord. Life is hard. It don’t get easier as time goes on, but knowin’ I can trust God no matter what comes, well, that gives me hope in the hardest of times.