First in Line

I'm always shocked by how quickly I can feel like I'm five years old again. It doesn't happen often, but when it does it's a rapid transformation that leaves me frustrated and slouching. On the bright side, it usually doesn't last long enough for me to start wearing my hair in a whale spout.

On Saturday morning, I arrived extremely early to catch my 11:30 Megabus to New York. For the first time I can remember, I was the first person in line. I plopped my bag next to the "New York" sign and pulled out a book to read while I waited. Other people came to check if I was in line for the 11:30 bus and stood to my left. It seemed my travel day was off to a good start. The line grew, buses arrived to let off people from Harrisburg and Baltimore, and the area became more crowded.

At about 11:10, a girl with perfectly styled hair, full makeup and expensive boots walked up next to me and dropped her bag. My initial assumption was that she had just gotten off a bus and was waiting for her ride... right next to me, at the front of the line for the bus to New York. It seemed ridiculous that she had intentionally cut me in line. Who is that blatant about stepping in front of fifty people? No one is that obviously impolite, right? 

Keep Believing, Keep Pretending

One of my English class assignments junior year was to write a speech.  I could write as any person I wanted and on any topic within the boundaries of general high school decency.  I chose to write as Kermit the Frog, calling the Muppets to band together and make better movies.  It was titled “Those Without Feet Can Still Take a Stand” – I have to admit I’m still a little proud of my seventeen-year-old self for that one.  

As Kermit, I admonished the Muppets for giving in to a culture that refused to appreciate innocent entertainment.  Elmo had sold out for a snazzy dressing room with bowls of red M&Ms while unemployed Muppets auditioned for Avenue Q just to make some cash.  After Muppets From Space, all of the Muppet films were made-for-TV or direct-to-DVD.  Rather than embracing the light-hearted musical numbers and jokes from earlier films, the more recent movies relied on the same innuendoes and winking adult humor that Shrek used to draw in older audiences and to remain relevant in an increasingly crude and reality TV-driven culture.  My point was that they didn’t have to try to relate to the same audience that watched Fear Factor and The Simple Life.  There was still an audience for films that were fun, musical, and didn’t feature people who are famous for spending lots of money and making sex tapes.

Sunday Morning

On Sunday mornings when I was little, my dad always read the comics pages to me. We'd laugh at Garfield, wonder what would happen next with Spiderman and puzzle over Zippy (I still don't understand Zippy). I would always pour myself a bowl of Berry Berry Kix for breakfast, then I would sit and listen to my dad read the bubbles over the character's heads. By the time I turned back to my cereal, it was a big pink and purple mush that I wouldn't want to eat. After a while, my mom started refusing to buy Berry Berry Kix.

Introducing: William the Wonder Bear

When I was born, my parents bought me a small white teddy bear. Before I had learned to walk, talk, or defend my territory, my older sister and brother "borrowed" my bear to play with on their own. It really followed the sibling code as I understand it, which is that if you're not using a toy, it means you don't want it and therefore it is fair game. So really, my siblings were just putting my bear to good use while I could not.

My first Christmas, my parents gave me a wonderful book called Alphabears, written by Kathleen Hague and illustrated by Michael Hague. They chose it because the bear for L is Laura, who doesn't like lightning. (As it turns out, this Laura doesn't either). It was always one of my favorite books when I was little. My sister and brother read Alphabears as well, and they noticed that the bear for W, William, looked strikingly like my own teddy bear. The line reads, "W is for William, the great wonder bear/He wears a white cape and soars through the air." My bear was dubbed William the Wonder Bear and I'm guessing was launched through the air frequently.

My bear on solid ground.

Now, seeing as I was less than three months old at this time, I do not remember my bear being named William the Wonder Bear. I grew very attached to my bear and slept cuddled up with it every night. One day when I was about three, I took my bear with me as I accompanied my mom to the post office. As we walked along the sidewalk, I realized that I hadn't named my bear yet. I'd had it for three years and it didn't have a name! I thought that the right name just hadn't occurred to me yet. So then and there, I decided on the bear's name: Rainbow. Very appropriate for an entirely white bear.

I also began to dress Rainbow in clothes that I found in our attic. Later I discovered these had belonged to one of my sister's dolls. According to the sibling code, though, the doll clearly wasn't wearing them, so... Anyways, when my brother and sister discovered that I had renamed William the Wonder Bear, they were horrified. This was partly because Rainbow is not nearly as glorious and superhero-like as William the Wonder Bear, but also because William...


... was now female!

Rainbow, as long as I have known her, has been a girl bear. In the nearly twenty years since that fateful day at the post office, my brother and sister have not forgotten their days with the Wonder Bear, and still occasionally call her by that name. Every now and then they lament the days when William was their bear who would fly around our house. Rainbow also provoked other jealousies as I grew up. Since my siblings are a bit older than me, they were off at school while I played at home and convinced my mom to help me make clothes for Rainbow. My siblings complained that my bear got more perks than they did. My sister was incensed when Rainbow got a small version the tall, multicolored hat that she had always asked for, the kind that street vendors sell on Patriots' Day and the Fourth of July.

Next up, the Belle dress my sister always wanted!

Okay... maybe that was a little much. But she does look fantastic, right? This bear has been with me through many phases. Rainbow was my model for early stitching and knitting projects and she still has a box full of oddly shaped dresses and scarves. When for some reason in elementary school I thought having a cast seemed cool, Rainbow "broke her arm." I found white cloth to wrap around her arm, then made her a sling. Eventually, it healed, probably after a couple days when I realized that she was easier to cuddle with if she didn't have the extra gear. She was also the star of my attempted film musical based on Beatles music during first grade. It's probably good for all my family and friends that I never finished that screenplay. I believe the plot revolved around Rainbow disappearing and a fuzzy reindeer stuffed animal named Jude going out to get her, wherever she was. I like to think I got more creative after that year.

Rainbow has come with me to college and helped me get through homesickness, stress, and thunder storms. I'd say that takes a Wonder Bear. She'll be coming with me wherever else I end up, too. When it came time to think of a title for this blog, referencing William just seemed to fit.