I'll explain.
Last Friday, just 4 days ago, my granddaughter Elora spent the night with me.
She discovered a stack of Berenstain Bear books that I had saved from my sons' childhood.
I had them boxed up all these years but just last week,
I decided to take them out of storage and put them out for the grandchildren to begin enjoying.
So I was across the room from her as she is flipping through one Berenstain book after another.
She casually makes the comment, "Logan sure knew how to write his name well."
I look over her way and she holds up the book and shows proof.
I had forgotten how much Logan loved these books.
He had written his name in many of them.
Staking his territory. I think he was about 7 at the time.
Tyler put his claim on some of these books, too.
A period of 25 years had passed!
Now here comes the odd part.
So then yesterday, just 3 days later, I turn on the computer and see that
The very week we rediscovered the Berenstain Bear books after 25 years.
But wait, there's more.
Back in 2003 I kept feeling I wanted to write to Mister Rogers
and thank him for being McKay's favorite TV hero back in the day.
(My older 2 sons wouldn't tolerate him, but I wasn't going to write that in my letter.)
So for months I would think, I need to write that letter!
Mister Rogers must be getting old.
Finally, and I remember this vividly, it was Feb. 28, 2003
(oh my, today is also Feb 28th....I didn't even realize the connection til just now!)
anyway...before I got up that morning in 2003, I was lying there and thought...
'This morning before I do anything else I am going to write to Mister Rogers!'
So I got out of bed, turned the computer on to write to him
and one of the top CNN news stories was that Mister Rogers died the night before!
I didn't even know he was sick, and I found out he was only 74.
But I was too late!
Looking back I think I was prompted to write, but I didn't do it in time.
Both husband and wife, authors of the Berenstain Bear books, are gone now.
She was working on 2 more books up until last Sunday,
the day before her death at age 88.
the day before her death at age 88.
11 comments:
Yes, life is like that many times I find.
And I think it's wonderful that you had those good and grateful thoughts about Mr. Rogers and the Berenstains right around the time of the passing of Fred Rogers and and again for Jan Berenstain.
I believe all the love, all the good anyone has for us goes with us on the journey, so you added to a nice send-off for them.
And, it is amazing to think of how these strangers added so much joy, happiness, and goodness to our lives and the lives of our children, and how they helped to enrich our relationship with our children. Something I think a great many of us feel so grateful for.
Beautiful post, Jill.
Love and Prayers,
Eileen
'tis a sad day to lose such gifted authors. My children also read their books; in fact, we still have their collection which is dated and with the giver's and recipient's name written on the inside cover. We have passed the interest on to our grandchild who has numerous books of his own as well as Berenstain stuffed bears to further enhance the reading experience.
I love the Berenstain Bear books! I didn't know she had died. You have made me a believer that when we get promptings to do something for someone we better do it!
Ben LOVED Mr. Rogers. So did I. Somewhere I heard a wonderful interview with him in his later years. You might be able to find it on the Internet. He told his whole life story and he is exactly the same in real life as he is on his show. He wasn't acting.
darlene
I love the Berenstain Bears. I have a lot of their books in my classroom. The kids really like them. I was sorry to see that she had passed.
Mr. Rodgers was awesome too. We need more people like them.
That's really interesting about Mr. Rogers.
And I love those old books with all the memories (and signatures) attached.
=)
I never knew McKay was a Mr. Rogers fan! It makes sense though. And those are crazy connections. Things like that always get me thinking too...
Thanks for sharing Dennis with us! We loved getting to see him!
Jill, Wonderful post. Loved all the "coincidences." Brought back lots of memories. Love, Dad and Susan
My children loved the Berenstain Bears books and in fact, when Tony and Hilarie announced they were pregnant with Garrett, they did it with the book, Berenstain Bears and the Week at Grandmas's (and they taped the word Grandpa's on it too). Becky has started her own collection of these books for her children which they love. That is really amazing to have your thoughts and promptings about these people just at the time of their passing.
Not to be a downer, but as a parent I had mixed feelings about the Bears books. They had good morals, but I didn't like the way the father bear was depicted as not very smart and really immature. It reminds me of the Simpsons depicting Homer in a very bad light. Don't like them either, even though my son is an animator at the Simpsons. I like Mr Rogers' modeling of a kind, peaceful, thoughtful man much better.
darlene
darlene
Jill, your memory just amazes me. I can't get over how well you remember dates and such! It's really a gift. I've always loved the Bernstein books. In fact, I just read one to Rachel last night. She loves them! And guess what? Moda got the licensing rights to manufacture the Bernstein bears fabric line! It will be debuting this month! I'm already thinking about making Rachel a cuddle quilt out of it. ;)
Post a Comment