Monday, November 23, 2015

The Bear




Fuzzy Wuzzy
Was a bear
Fuzzy Wuzzy
Had no hair
Fuzzy Wuzzy
Wasn't very fuzzy – wuz he?

I’ve been packing, packing and packing some more because I’ll be moving in less than three weeks. While I was working in the garage, I looked up and saw my bear. He’s about three feet tall, carved out of a log, and carries a fishing pole with a fish dangling from a string. The above rhyme immediately came to mind. I stopped and stared at him, wondering how many of today’s kids have ever heard the rhyme.

Is it too silly for this day and age? I hope not.

There were a lot of rhymes we recited while jumping rope, too. It struck me that I can’t remember the last time I saw a child skipping rope. Were we too innocent?

Recite the rhyme to a child and see if they laugh or simply roll their eyes at you.

I have some old nursery rhyme books from the 1920s, left over from a relative. There’s a story about a teeny tiny woman who lived in a teeny tiny house, and let me tell you, everything in the story is teeny tiny. I haven’t read it in years, so I don’t remember very much, but (I’m making this up for purposes of this post) the teeny tiny woman went to her teeny tiny kitchen where she reached up to her teeny tiny cupboard to lift out a teeny tiny cup and saucer. When I read it aloud to a child, I start to laugh after about the twentieth reference to something “teeny tiny”. I laugh so hard that tears run down my face. At the end of the story, something upsets the woman and her teeny tiny voice isn’t teeny tiny anymore, but that’s beside the point. The point being, that by the time I reach the end of the story, the child I’m reading it to is laughing uncontrollably, too.

Not every story has to have a lesson in it. Sometimes it’s just about fun. Sometimes there is a lesson, but it’s so subtle that you don’t realize you’ve learned anything for quite a while.

When I read I notice a lot of profanity in some books. As a kid, I didn’t even know what the “f-bomb” meant, much less how to use it in everyday conversation. I recall a friend telling me what it meant, and thinking back, I realize just how innocent she was. I can’t repeat her definition here, but let me tell you, she had no idea what she was talking about. Along those lines, I remember reading a Mickey Mouse book where he said, “Darn!” Uh, I asked my mother if they were allowed to cuss in children’s books. Imagine the conversation if I’d read a book that had the “f-bomb” in it. Talk about innocent! By the way, my mother laughed over that one.

Is there anything wrong with innocence? Not at all. I wish we had more of it these days. Is there anything wrong with writing a clean story? I mean, even a murder mystery can have some good, clean fun in it. That sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? However, it’s true.

Ring around the rosie,
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes, ashes,
All fall down!

With everything that’s going on in the world today, we need something that can take us away from it all, even if for just a moment. Maybe that’s why I tend to lean toward books with humor in them. I realize there are old rhymes supposedly based on ugliness, but as a child neither me nor my friends had any idea that Ring Around the Rosie had to do with the plague. I’m still not sure that’s true, by the way.

So think about Fuzzy Wuzzy or The Teeny Tiny Woman for a few minutes. You might find yourself smiling when you least expect it.

Your thoughts on innocence and/or reality are more than welcome. I honestly don’t live in a dream world, although sometimes it’s tempting.

Now this teeny tiny woman is going to get back to packing her teeny tiny boxes in her teeny tiny house before storing them in her teeny tiny garage.

I lied. My garage is huge and so is the pile of boxes.

Until next week, don't even think about moving unless you've got lots of energy. And, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website
CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com

Looking for a good book? You might try What Are the Odds – A Sandi Webster Mystery by Marja McGraw.



15 comments:

  1. I said Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear to all of my grandchildren but now I think I need to ask them if they remember it. I remember when I was a teenager walking to town with my father (we only lived 3 blocks from downtown) and he was upset about something and kept saying, "Darn!" I was soooo embarrassed, afraid someone might overhear him. My but times have changed.

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    1. LOL Well, Pat, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who thought "darn" was a bad word. Thank you so much for commenting!

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    2. I posted on Facebook in a private message to my grandchildren if they remembered Fuzzy Wuzzy. Mallory, next to oldest and just turned 24, repeated it word for word. I was thrilled. LOL

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    1. I'm getting used to the idea, Marilyn, and at least I'm taking Fuzzy with me. : ) Thank you so much for stopping in!

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  3. I remember the teeny tiny woman and Fuzzy Wuzzy. I loved them both and I still do.
    I cherish my childhood memories (and innocence) and I strive to keep the child in me alive. Some people will tell you that I do a good job of that. LOL

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    1. Yes, Pat, we need to keep that inner child alive. You're the first person I've heard from that remembers the teeny tiny woman. She just cracked me up. Thank you so much for commenting!

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  4. Yes, those little childhood rhymes come to me at the oddest times! I don't envy you your job of moving. I'm having a hard enough time trying to get rid of some of the clutter in this house we've lived in for over 30 years!

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    1. You have my sympathy, Morgan. We only lived here for 14 years. If you're like us, you've accumulated a LOT. : ) Thank you so much for commenting!

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  5. Hi Marja,

    Your blog brought back some fond memories. I remember when Dad used his 8 mm camera to record my sister and I (without sound back in the day), sitting on a metal glider on the front porch as it was snowing. We were singing Fuzzy Wuzzy. Nikki was maybe seven and I maybe five. Even without sound you can just about read our lips. Yes, I remember my innocent times.

    Now I just continue with the fact we were not allowed to cuss. I still don't to this day I carry that through in my book "Blood Death and Salt", I think I used two cuss words by today standards "Hell" and "Bitch" are no big deal; both words were essential to the scene, but that is the extent of the swearing I used in the book.

    Thank you for the memory especially about Fuzzy Wuzzy.

    Jan O'Kane janokane13@aol.com

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    1. I'm glad I could bring back such a pleasant memory, Jan. There are times when cursing is essential to a scene or character, but we can be discriminate in which ones we use, as you were. Thank you so much for commenting!

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  6. Thanks for a fun visit to the days of innocence, Marja. My last book had explosions, shooting, killing, some mild cursing, but not a single f-bomb. No one has complained.

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    1. I enjoy your books, Earl, and I've never read anything in them that I found offensive. Keep up the good work and keep providing me/us with some great reading. Thank you so much for commenting!

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  7. I remember Fuzzy Wuzzy and the Teeny Tiny Woman as well as the following silly poem, which I recited to a thrid grade class while teaching in the "Poetry in the Schools" program:

    Once there was an elephant who tried to use the telephant,
    No, no, I mean an elephone who tried to use the telephone,
    How ere it be, he tried to use the telebee,
    I fear I'd better drop this song of elephop and telephong.

    I then had them write a story about an animal who tried to use a household appliance. It was fun and helped the kids use their imaginations which have suffered over the years from watching too much TV and playing computer games.

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    1. I love that story, Jean! And the poem. I wish more teachers would do things like that so the kids would use their imaginations more. : ) Thank you so much for commenting!

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