Bear

I’ve already remarked on the Milne connection in our courtship, and on the delight we took in Knickerbocker’s excellent plush characters. To this day, Valerie refers to me as her “silly old Bear.” My main e-mail handle is olbear@me.com.

Here’s Pooh, as realized by Knickerbocker, and as momentarily ignored by Rick, on the living-room floor at Stanford. Maybe he’s preoccupied with his newly-achieved sitting posture.

From the first, we knew that we’d spend most of our three-year engagement on separate continents. So, before departing for France in 1961, I gave Valerie this Bear of Considerable Size. So that when she would wish to put her arms around something BIG, she wouldn’t have to resort to anybody of her own species. Or even anybody animate. Until I could return and fill the gap.

She called him “Bear.”