Bunny jumped ship this week.
Did he really? That is, did he mean to do it or was it a mistake: a moment, perhaps, of inattention? I can’t speak to his mental state, but what should have been a flawlessly executed one-night layover at our house with an on-time departure the next morning, instead degenerated into a mad scramble to the post office, to reunite Bunny ASAP with his already departed two-year-old BFF.
As I stuffed Bunny into a box, I thought of another bunny and his big plan for the unbouncing of Tigger.
“Well, I’ve got an idea,” said Rabbit, “and here it is. We take Tigger for a long explore, somewhere where he’s never been, and we lose him there, and next morning we find him again, and–mark my words–he’ll be a different Tigger altogether.”
“Why?” said Pooh.
“Because he’ll be a Humble Tigger. Because he’ll be a Sad Tigger, a Melancholy Tigger, a Small and Sorry Tigger, an Oh-Rabbit-I-am-glad-to-see-you Tigger. That’s why.”
– A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
Although Bunny was left somewhere where he’d never been, with people he did not know, I saw no sign of him being humbled, saddened, or made melancholy, small, or sorry by the experience. (Mind you, he’s the plush, silent type: hard to read. I do expect that his temporarily bereft partner in this misadventure will be all Oh-Bunny-I-am-glad-to-see-you when Canada Post comes through. As surely it will. As surely it better.)
Planning hardships for others for their personal growth is, in practice, even less appreciated than you might expect. Anyway, doesn’t life throw us hardships a-plenty without any assistance from others? We grow or don’t grow as the case may be.
Like Rabbit, I’ve got an idea and here it is. Let’s all go on a long explore, somewhere we’ve never been, and all come home again together. Mark my words: We’ll be different Tiggers altogether.
Again. You’re on a roll.
Mary – And all at the paltry cost of untold trauma to a little. 🙂 (Not that I hid Bunny, I swear.)
“Mind you, he’s the plush, silent type: hard to read,” you wrote. LOL. Not in our experience with Bear and Hemmy…
Barbara – Some stuffies may be more transparent. Some companions may be more insightful. 🙂
I love the references to the Pooh characters, Isabel, with whom I have had a life-long love affair. I’m talking about the A.A. Milne / Ernest Shepherd ones, not the Disney versions.
Recently I read a book about the Hundred Acre Wood, a real place, by a botanist, which made the world of Christopher Robin real as anything has ever done. And somewhere I have a book autographed by the human Christopher Robin, purchased from his bookstore in Dartmouth, Devon, many years ago.
Ian – 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it. The stories really are delightful – the characters are great fun. That book by the botanist sounds fascinating. Here’s a link for others to the author’s website.