Oh, So Clever!

I think the reason that so many people, young and old love Pooh and the rest of the characters in the Pooh stories is because the characters have been well written with lovable personalities in a colorful and non-threatening way. The stories deal with stuff kids tend to be scared of - moving, getting lost, and visiting new places. These characters are funny, innocent, full of imagination and have great adventures! Experiencing these adventures with the Pooh characters makes everything less scary for kids and they bring back pleasant childhood memories for adults.

An "expotition" is Winnie The Pooh's word for a special adventure. It's like "expedition" but more fun! In the Pooh story called, "Now We Are Six", Pooh makes up a poem that goes, "But now I am six. I'm as clever as clever. So I think I'll be six now for ever and eer."

This brings to mind a story about when my sister and I were six. I thought I was so clever! In fact, I was headstrong, fearless, and fairly resourceful! The story actually starts when we were five. My mother had just given birth to my little sister and was spending lots of time with her that she used to spend playing with me and my twin. One unseasonably warm day after a fair bit of whining on our part, my mom sent Carol and I out to play in the yard. Well, we were quite put out and lamented to one another that we sure wished we were at Granny's because she wouldn't ignore us! I said, "Why not go to Granny's? We know the way." I don't specifically remember thinking about whether mom would be mad at us but I am pretty sure we knew she would be. We didn't try to ask permission for our expotition!

Now, Granny lived 60 miles away but we had no concept of how far that was. We had always ridden in the car and it didn't take too awful long then! (We invariably fell asleep on the way and had no concept to the bearing that had on distance!) So, out the gate and to the left we went. At the corner we turned left just like Dad did in the car every weekend when we went to visit Granny. We walked for a very long time without seeing any houses. We were starting to think to ourselves, "Are we there yet?" The first house we came to looked familiar to us but not like Granny's really. Then one of us realized that it was where the little boy lived who got off the bus right before us. Without discussing wether or not we were worried about really knowing the rest of the way to Granny's or not, we unanimously decided that we should stop and play at this little boy's house before making the rest of our journey. We walked right up to the door and knocked. When a woman answered the door, we politely asked if Johny could come out to play. Well, you can imagine the look on her face when she could find no trace of any adults in the drive or on the road. Knowing there wasn't another house for at least a mile in any direction she asked, "Where did you come from?" We answered that we came from our house and we were on the way to Granny's. I don't know how this woman ever found our phone number since our last name was Kurtenbach and she was hearing it from two little 6 year old's but she sent us out in their back yard to play and then called our house. When she told my mom that she had her twins, my mom told her there must be some mistake because her girls were in their own back yard. Mom really freaked when the woman told her to put the phone down and go check! When mom arrived we heard her talking to the little boy's mother and tried to hide. He told us to hide under a row boat that was upside down in the back yard. Of course that was the first place they looked for us when it appeared that we had escaped their back yard too. You see, that was his "favorite" hiding place! I know we were scolded for that little "expotition" but we didn't get a spanking. Everyone was just so happy no harm had come to us. Interestingly enough, nobody gets spankings in the Pooh books either. Well that was the end of our "expotitions" until we moved into a new school district when I was six.

Pooh's friends do quite a bit of moving in the Pooh stories. Piglet moves in with Pooh. Owl moves out of a tree in the 100 Aker Wood into Piglets House. Pooh and the gang rebuild Eeyore's house. Kanga and Roo let Tigger move in with them.

When we moved, we were 10 blocks from the new school. The first day my mom walked us to school. It seemed really simple. Just go out our front door, turn right onto the sidewalk, then eventually another right and before long you were there. So, the second day, we convinced Mom that we were big enough and brave enough to walk by ourselves. After all, it wasn't as far as when we tried to walk to Granny's! So off we went. We turned right onto the sidewalk and waved to Mom in the window. After two blocks we turned right but after another block we weren't quite clear anymore on how many rights we were supposed to make. So, deciding it was supposed to be two right turns, not counting the turn onto the sidewalk from our house, we turned right again. We walked about a block and a half and decided that we surely couldn't be far but we were a little concerned about wether or not we were still on the right track. It was about then that we noticed a garbage truck moving along the curb just ahead of us and reasoned that all we had to do was follow it, for surely they had to be on their way to pick up the garbage at school. We tried to be non-chalant about the fact that we were following the truck. This wasn't easy because it kept slowing down at each driveway to empty the trash cans that had been set by the curb. At the corner the truck turned right and then another right. Carol and I exchanged worried glances because we knew now that even though that garbage truck might still be headed for the school, it was now most definitely not following the route we were supposed to be taking. Just when we were about to admit to one another that we didn't know where we were, we recognized the driveway and trash can that the men were in the process of emptying into the truck. We were back at our house! We raced up to the front door and told mom we had decided to let her take us to our new school one more day before we started going on our own! I am pretty sure that mom was happy that we were gracing her with one more day!

It is interesting to me that in the Pooh stories when they take a walk through the forest (Ashdown) that they always make right hand turns. Of course this allows them to get back easily to where they started, Pooh's House, just as it did for Carol and I. And, it keeps them from stumbling into the Heffalumps traps or the floody place.

The character that is the best at not being able to get lost is probably Tigger. When Rabbit, Pooh and Piglet tried to lose him in the forest, Tigger had no problem finding his way out, although Rabbit got lost, big time! Pooh and Piglet were lost until Pooh "followed his hungry tummy home to hunny". Eeyore doesn't get lost in the Pooh stories, but he does lose his tail. (Winnie the Pooh found Eeyore's tail outside of Owl's front door. The tail was being used by Owl as a door bell pull string. Technically, Owl found it first, but did not know it was a tail. Therefore, Pooh is credited with having found the tail.) Kanga never gets lost, but then she usually stays pretty close to home. Roo almost got lost when he fell in the stream, but he was rescued. Owl hasn't gotten lost, but he often loses himself in his own stories, and loses his visitors when he gets long-winded.

I hope I haven't lost any of you with my long windedness! I wouldn't be surprised if the adventures of Pooh hasn't sparked some of your own childhood memories with its animals, songs, poems, food, and adventures. I hope you enjoyed listening to a few of my childhood memories.