The Pooh Theory

My brother gave me the original A. A. Milne book Winnie the Pooh when I was about twelve. I read it. I had seen the Disney movies as a kid, but this was before everyone had a copy of every single Disney movie ever made in the universe. So it was from this book that I drew my knowledge and love for the stuffed bear. The book has been one of my favorites ever since.

When I met my husband, we actually had a conversation about Pooh and his friends. As it turned out, his mom had always called him Tigger. I had always likened myself to Pooh, "being a bear of very little brains." Over the years, that was something we had in common and we sort of connected with it. I sent him a copy of one of my favorite songs, House at Pooh Corner. He gave me a mug with the cast on it.

One night just before Christmas, many years ago, when he knew I would be home from school, Santa came walking up my driveway. I sat in stunned shock as my mom answered the door. Our Palo Alto house had a front atrium that lead to the front door and the walls were windows, we all had a perfect view of the strange visitor. He handed my mom a small package and headed out saying he left the sleigh running. My mom handed the gift to me. I wondered how she could be so sure it was for me? My mom said, he was looking at you the whole time!

When I opened it and found a plastic Winnie the Pooh and Tigger figure. I knew exactly who the bearded man in red was. When my mom asked me who it was, I announced simply, "the man I'm going to marry."

We even had Winnie the Pooh and Tigger on our wedding cake. The cake was awful, but that was the baker's fault. The idea, I still love. We have received many more Pooh and Friends over the years. Christmas ornaments, blankets, puzzles. We love it.

It was that first reading that started my Pooh Theory. I, as I said, have felt a kinship with Pooh. And it was this trouncey bouncy boy who helped me realize the theory to be true. We all have a bit of one or another of A. A. Milne's caricatures in us. Over the years I have seen that all the caricatures are in all of us. It's just one or two who come out as a personality. I have seen that as I have grown, some times we might get scared, as Piglet does, or more brave, like Roo. I can be more maternal, like Kanga. But mostly I am forgetful and often hungry and therefor am more Pooh than anyone else.

The last year and a half I have been more Eeyore than anyone. I have had to contend with depression brought on after the birth of my last baby. Eeyore mixed with bursts of Rabbit.

Now our littlest one is obsessed with Pooh and "Teegger" and Eeyore. She only wants to watch Pooh DVDs and if someone else has an opinion about it, she pulls rank. We now have the small portable TV permanently set up in the living room with a Pooh DVD perpetually running. We all have the songs stuck in our heads. And we hear that Santa will be offering a similar gift, as he did so many years before. Only with batteries and springs. If she's good.

Which caricature are you?