So. Apparently I Am A Wedged Bear In Great Tightness...

(Pooh and the beast.)

"Eeyore was saying to himself, 'This writing business. Pencils and what-not. Over-rated if you ask me. Silly stuff. Nothing in it."-Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne.

So, I had this dream.

But let me say first, I love Disney World. I know, not news. Yes, Twiz, you are saying. You like skipping around in your light-up tiara and having the characters bow to you because you have concerning princess issues. Blah blah blah.

I cannot help that I identify so closely with Belle. We are both brunette. We both adore books. We both fell in love with beasts.

*snort*

Fine. But can I say you all are getting to know me too well?

Anyway, I do. It is a magical place. I can soar with Peter Pan, dance with Cinderella, spot a Heffalump. All my favorite characters, from some of my most favorite stories and books are there, for me. Come to life.

Especially ones like Pooh. I didn't know, hadn't been aware before our recent trip, that Disney had created a new attraction-The Hundred Acre Wood- and in the middle is Pooh's tree. Exactly as I'd always imagined it, and there for me to touch.

It was like being four again. You know, that fragile time in your life where you believed in bears filled with fluff and Tiggers who bounced and that honey is more precious than gold. Yes. It was like that.

And we stood under Pooh's tree and watched the children playing inside. But the funny thing was, as much as I wanted to get down on my knees and climb in and finally see and be in Pooh's house, I didn't. And I sort of regret that right now.

By the way, do you know I've never been to Universal? The amusement park? Huh. It just occurred to me. The rest of my family has been. We'd planned on bringing the kids when Bob was older. But it's never held much interest for me. I wonder if it's because the rides are based on things like movies...which have never held as much magic for me as books.

But I'm digressing. As usual.

I've had some decisions pressing on me the last few days. The sort of heavy, overwhelming stuff that freezes you. And I didn't know what to do. My mom said what she usually says when I've gone to her for help: go sleep on it. Maybe the answer would come in my dreams.

So, it worked; I had this dream last night.

I was trying to shimmy through the doorway into Pooh's house, but my butt got stuck. Much like Pooh, I found I was suddenly a wedged bear in great tightness.

"Help me," I said to Pooh, who was sitting on his chair eating a pot of honey. "I don't know how to unstick. All I've ever wanted is to visit with you!"

And then Pooh quoted one of my favoritest Pooh lines ever. "Sometimes if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slowly slipping away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to know," he said.

"What the hell are you talking about," I said. "I can't look at any stupid river, my butt is stuck!"

"Rivers know this: there is no hurry," he said, and then he dipped his paw into the honey pot again. "We shall get there some day."

I banged my head on the ground. Once. Twice. Four times. Finally I said, "But I'm stuck now. My butt is hanging out. What if someone comes by and kicks me in the tush, or worse, makes a target of it and throws darts at me? What do I do?"

And then Pooh set the pot on the table and he leaned forward and whispered, "Don't worry. Someone nice will come along and they will help push you and there you go. We can have honey together in my house."

That's when I woke up.

I know. It doesn't make much sense to me, either. And I'll be honest, I probably had too much chocolate before I went to bed. It was Bob's Big Brother's seventeenth birthday yesterday, though, so lots of cake-eating was required of me. But, I think Pooh might have been trying to tell me something. I'm not entirely sure what, but I think, just maybe, I might know.

This, however, I do know: my book ever gets published, I'm celebrating by going down to Disney. And I'm getting on my knees, damnnit, sucking in my butt, and crawling inside Pooh's House. That, I promise.