Farewell Christopher Robin

Change happens whether we want it or not; seasons, people, minds, friends, and life changes. There's an unwelcome change happening in our household.  My 11-year old son's voice is changing.  I am jarred to my core every time his smooth childish voice cracks and a deep voice breaks through in the middle of a sentence.  I don’t recognize this new voice.  This deep voice clangs as a warning bell of a new chapter entering my life. The deep voice also symbolizes more changes:  the process of emptying toy boxes, buying deodorant, loss of control, cell phones and data plans, making room in the closet for fashionable clothes and shoes, and worst of all, not being able to kiss or hug the grown up hurts away. Then it will be me alone living with 3 men.  I am NOT ready for this!

Every night I give my son a good night kiss and as I walk away the practical feeling of he’s getting too old for bedtime kisses fights my emotional ties.  I just want to hold onto the adolescent for a few more years. It’s times such as these that make me regret not cherishing more moments before tweendom. I wanted him to grow, mature, and catch up with his peers so I never expected this melancholy feeling.   

In this moment I feel like Winnie the Pooh saying good bye to Christopher Robin. I feel as if I'm standing in the doorway of the last chapter waving a tearful good bye to a small child who's walking away.  It is a bittersweet moment and the tears are one-sided.  I'm saying goodbye to softness, good bye tickling/cuddling, good bye stuffed animals and good bye to being the center of my child’s universe.  The child is smiling and eager for new adventures and happy to be independent and saying “Hello, world!”

As I'm sadly watching the child getting smaller in the distance there's a tween with a cracking voice who is as tall as me trying to enter through the doorway without an invitation. I look at him, pause and accept that children grow up and I welcome him inside.  Before I shut the door I look out once more to see the child cresting the horizon into a bright future.

Excerpt from "The World of Pooh"  Chapter 10

Christopher Robin was going away.  Nobody knew why he was going; nobody knew where he was going; indeed, nobody even knew why he knew that Christoper Robin was going away.  But somehow or other everybody in the Forest felt that it was happening at last. 

"Pooh, promise you won't forget about me, ever. Not even when I'm a hundred."
Pooh thought for a little.
"How old shall I be then?"
"Ninety-nine."
Pooh nodded.
"I promise," he said.
Still with his eyes on the world Christopher Robin put out a hand and felt for Pooh's paw. 
'"Pooh," said Christopher Robin earnestly, "if I--if I'm not quite------" he stopped and tried again----"Pooh, whatever happens, you will understand, won't you?"
"Understand what?"
"Oh, nothing" He laughed and jumped to his feet. "Come on!"
"Where?" said Pooh.
"Anywhere," said Christopher Robin. 

I MISS THIS GUY!

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

The old adage "Better late than never" definitely applies to my scrapbook intentions.  Here's a page I did of my first-born son who is going to be 17 years old this year. In the pictures below he has the collection of the vintage-style Pooh and Friends plush toys. I tried to make my baby kiss the animals for the pic. But just like a boy he thought throwing his plush toys across the room, pulling them apart, and chewing on them was much more fun. Thus...snips and snails...came to mind when I scrapped the pics.

I love Winnie the Pooh! While growing up we lived very frugally so I never actually owned a stuffed Pooh Bear. He seemed elusive to me as if he were a toy only for people who had money because it was only my wealthier friends who owned Pooh. I remember even back in the 70s an average-sized Pooh cost about $12 which was very costly. There was also an enormous Pooh bear on display at Sears.  If I recall correctly he must have been 6-ft tall in the sitting position. Every time we went shopping I would throw myself on him. Kids were always climbing poor ole Pooh.  I was very sad when they took the display down.

Although we didn't have many toys, we did have books thanks to my mom's connection at Treasury Drug where she was a cashier.  The magazine/book man gave her and the other employees books after he ripped the covers off.  My mom informed me that the publishers only required the covers to return and the book man was going to throw the books away. So every once in a while my mom would come home with a box of assorted books in all genres including children's books, romance, non-fiction, fiction, and dramatic books like "Mommy Dearest".  In the mountain of books we received there was one precious Winnie the Pooh book.  It was that book in which I fell in love with Pooh and Piglet. I wanted to live in the magical 100-Acre Wood with them. I often stared at the illustrations trying to will myself into the book.  So when I was pregnant I was excited to buy everything that had Pooh Bear on it.  My mom and sisters even threw a Pooh Bear baby shower for me. I wanted to bring the 100-Acre Wood into my home where my baby and I could go on fun adventures together just like Pooh and Piglet.  

The word "snips" is for a small eel.