Grummie

Wow! Our brains are amazing things! This fact was driven home last week as I was rummaging thru my favorite antique/junk store. One of my daughters was with me. This store has so much stuff in a relatively small space that progress is slow and deliberate. It actually gives one the feeling of treasure hunting. I love it.
As we were making our slow but steady search I turned a corner, saw an item and exclaimed excitedly, “Look, it’s a grummie!!” My daughter was a bit taken aback as was the shopkeeper. But neither of them was more shocked than I!
Let me explain a little- when my brother was little he had a favorite toy. It was a stuffed Captain Kangaroo. I guess I’d better introduce those of my readers NOT of the Captain Kangaroo era to him. He was a very long running children’s TV character. He actually started on the radio during the Howdy Doody times. He was beloved by several generations of children.
Back to my brother, he and this toy were inseparable. You know, like Woody and Andy. He had named him Grummie. We never knew why. Grummie was the center of his universe for many years. Because he was a younger brother it became a big part of my universe also. Many of my childhood hours were spent finding Grummie.
Here’s the thing, if you had asked me what my brother’s favorite toy was I probably would have drawn a blank. If you had asked me what he had named his favorite toy, I would have gently explained to you that I spend a good part of every day trying to find the place I last set down my water bottle. I then would have told you that I have purchased a number of reading glasses to be placed near the areas I might be needing them. This was done because I was sick over the lost hours maybe years of my life spent looking for them.
In short, I would have answered, “How the heck do you expect me to remember that?” But there was a stuffed Captain Kangaroo on a crowded shelf and without even thinking about it, I shouted out, “Look it’s a Grummie!”
I have suspected that our brains hold everything we ever put into them before. When driving in the car one day, someone said they wanted a Big Mac. I instantly started chanting the Big Mac song- twoallbeefpaattiesspecialsaucelettucecheesepicklesonionsonasesameseedbun. My kids thought I’d gone insane. I had visions of me sitting in the corner of some nursing home muttering these words over and over. People would pass by saying “Poor old soul- does anyone know what she’s talking about?”
These fleeting glimpses into the recessed closets of my mind give me hope that all is not lost! Looking forward to the day I die, I see myself on the other side suddenly remembering all that I had forgotten. I think of the character in “Peter Pan” who found his missing marbles and danced with joy. I’ll even remember all the “safe” places I put things in. Of course it won’t do me any good but it’ll be nice to know.
That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?