Pooh's Great Escape

Last night, I remembered one final cruise tale, and it concerns our travelling companion, Pooh.

Pooh always holds down the fort in whatever cabin, room, suite or guest house we stay in when not at home base. On a few occassions, some of the maids/porters "get it", and pose Pooh in different ways when the rooms are cleaned each day. We've found him holding chocolates, flowers, a washcloth folded into a fortune cookie, and he's also been tucked in, peeking out from the pillows, or holding the newspaper at the end of the bed.

We are completely aware that many think we are nuts, and others who see Pooh as replacement for a child the we
should(?) have. Wrong, whatever - we love him, and I originally received him from my godparents when I was 4 or 5 years old. We take extraordinarily good care of him, and he has a few stiches here and there.

Anyway, this incident happened about mid-way through the cruise. We were back in the room after another boozy evening and getting ready for bed, stumbling around in the funny-silly-drunk way. Finally, we get under the covers. Ak starts watching TV,and I am reading. Just like any other night, I started rooting around for Pooh with my right hand, not taking my eyes from my book because he is always there. Well, this time he wasn't, and within 5 minutes I had checked the entire cabin, was starting to freak out, and had totally lost my buzz. Ak, always the mind of reason, tried to get me to calm down while he looked, so I sat and had a smoke and watched him do what I just did, telling him how to do it. Pooh wasn't anywhere. I grabbed the phone and called the concierge, and realize that it's 3am. I tried to be calm when explaining the problem, but I got pretty hysterical and ak had to take over. When he was done, he relayed that he was told this happens a lot, and that stuffed toys always get cought up in the bedding. They would be contacting the laundry room immediately to be on the lookout. I am sure that most of the owners of these stuffed toys are not on the cusp of 40 years of age. I was just so sad at the thought of losing something so precious and meaningful, something you cannot put a price on.

Finally, the two of us get back into bed, and try to settle down to get some sleep. We wondered out loud where he was, and I was so scared that he was in the trash, or worse, over the side. I totally cried.

The next morning, I was out of bed at 7, and in the hall looking for Michael, our porter. I saw his cart at the end of the hall, so I started down. As I approached, I thought I saw two little stuffed golden legs sticking out of the second shelf of the cart. Michael came out of the room he was cleaning just as I got to the cart, and it was Pooh! He handed him to me, and I saw that the laundry staff had made a little bed for him because he had been "running around" down there all night, and was very tired. It was too cute - they had shaped a pillow, mattress and comforter out of washcloths and pillowcases. I hugged and kissed Michael on the cheek - he totally thinks I am a crazy American broad. He got a great tip at the end :)

Needless to say, Pooh got a hero's welcome upon returning to the cabin, then got scolded for disappearing. From that day on, we made sure Pooh was out of the bed and on the couch before we left the room in the mornings.


High drama on the high seas, people :) I am thinking about making this a little story book for our godson - Pooh's Cruise Adventure. Like ak pointed out, he was in places and parts of the ship we would never see, so we could come up with something. Who knows.

Happy Weekend!

Above Photo: Pooh enjoying the beautiful orchid in the cabin this past January.