For those of my friends from the training industry you may remember a program on teamwork titled “Lessons from Geese.” It seems we can look to our feathered friends for lessons in love as well.
Geese are one of the species of animal that mate for life in the wild. Blossom, a goose living at Iowa’s Riverside Park Cemetery, lost her mate and became morose. The General Manager Dorie Tammen placed an ad in the local paper: “Lonely, widowed domestic goose seeks life partner for companionship and occasional shenanigans. I’m youthful, adventurous, and lively, and I’ve been told I’m beautiful.”
Enter Deb and Randy Hoyt. They responded that they were host to a similarly lonely widower goose, Frankie. Introductions were made, nature took its course and Blossom and Frankie have been inseparable since.
Humans behave similarly at times, but quite often with a slight twist. People find a second companion and form an intimate bond like the Blossom and Frankie. The difference in humans being that sometimes they are still married and their spouse is very much alive.