Guinness is snoozing next to First. Or she would be if my camera flash weren’t going off in her face.
The town where we lived when I graduated from high school was so tiny that it didn’t have any businesses other than gas stations, one mom-and-pop burger place, a barber shop, beauty shop, and a convenience store. There was–I’m serious–one red light. And a post office. Everything else was residential. But a couple of miles down the road was a little shopping center where there was a drugstore. That drugstore had a gift section, and that’s where the yellow dog, above, came from. I named him First because he was given to me by The Boyfriend on the anniversary of our first year of going steady.
When we went away to college, some of my stuffed animals went with me, including First. I made the overalls he’s wearing from a worn-out pair of The Boyfriend’s jeans. Here’s the belly side.
I used to cause myself to laugh hysterically by making First play air guitar to the Wings song Let Me Roll It. The Boyfriend tolerated this on our long drives between Tuscaloosa and home. I still love that song.
One of the friends I made on the hall in my dorm loved First so much that when Christmas came around, I picked up his brother for her from that same drugstore.
Kim loved him.
And slept with him.
And sometimes her animals and my animals had a little slumber party. That’s my teddy bear, Dr. Neil, behind her puppy. The pale yellow elephant is also mine. I think he was from The Boyfriend, too. I believe I had him up until a few years ago when the rats invaded the attic. They got into a bag of stuffed animals and used their innards for nesting materials. Since First and Dr. Neil always stay close to me wherever I am, they weren’t in the attic so were safe. But the elephant may have been a casualty.
Rat bastards.
Got to love the one red light. Remember it used to turn all three colors. But the last time I was there, it only flashed yellow on one side and red on the other side. I guess that high volume traffic isn’t a big consideration. I still love showing people “downtown”. We usually make it to the park before we hear where was it?
I’m shocked that the traffic light is no longer fully functional!
I was there in 2008 and saw the new City Hall building. Not much else had changed.
I remember the old City Hall. Tiny building with barely enough room for a desk. I also remembering paying the water bill at City Hall. Glad they got a new building. Progress!
RATS in the attic? Do you Texans (and transplants) have to do EVERYTHING bigger?? We settle for mice here in Maine. 😉
It was quite the ordeal, let me tell you. In fact, I did tell the world, practically daily, for quite some time a few years ago. It was an epic tale of war, loss, suspense, and triumph. Occasionally there are still skirmishes, city rats being relentless and many, but we continue to prevail.
The elephant was a casualty of the rat bastard attack‽ That will teach me not to read the last line first. Stuffed animals suffer the same fate in this house, but here it’s DeFlayer Pup Renee who does the unstuffing. But she’s very possessive with her animal skins. She keeps them in her toy box, and always is carrying them around the house.
They are her trophies!
Seeing the stuffed animal overalls you made from Steve’s jeans makes me think those jeans must really have been worn slap out. If Steve was anything like me, he never surrendered his well-worn jeans until he was in danger of being arrested for indecent exposure in the wearing of them.
I love Guinness the dog’s name. I’m guessing the color of the dog brought the naming. The name reminds me of the first time I downed a pint Guinness stout in a pub in Cambridge. Zeno and I were in England with a peer study group one summer doing a unit on John Wesley at Oxford and Cambridge, among other places. After downing our pints of stout (and they were), we buzzed outside, listened to a Cambridge band cover some old Beatles’ tunes, watched boats punting up and down the canals, and dozed off under a large and very old, shade tree. It was a really good day.
If the jeans weren’t worn out, he might have turned them into cutoffs and I got the extra denim.
I love it when something I talk about prompts you to share a memory from your life with me. And what a great memory it is. You have a way with words, sir.
Thank you and, really, I think sometimes I take advantage of your blog to tell you my stories. (In my mind’s eye Becky says under her breath, “Get your own damn blog!) – an event which will never happen.
Really, it’s simply that your writings, recollections – the whole legacy thing – is just so evocative. You describe an event, tell the story, even show the pictures, and off my mind runs on it’s own stream of consciousness and I have a new memory, a part of my life I’d forgotten. It’s a little selfish really; but it’s also one of the reasons I’m a regular to your blog. Your writing evokes and suddenly I get little misplaced parts of my life back. So, thank you!
No, no, thank you! =) “Take advantage” any time. It’s a pleasure to hear your memories and get to see parts of a friend’s life. It’s what I hope for!