Yeah, yeah, I know I'm a day late and a dollar short for participating in Theme Thursday but honestly? I couldn't think of anything to write about that had the bottle theme. When I think of bottles, I think of "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" and liquor and booze and stuff like that.
I had a 2nd cousin (still do as he's still alive) who liked his likker. Whenever Cousin Harold finished a bottle of whatever it was he drank, he would take the empty bottle out to the back yard and plant the empty bottle in the dirt so that about half the bottle would be above ground. He called it his "Bottle Garden." When we were little kids and would go over to Uncle Steve and Aunt Sylvia's house, where Cousin Harold still lived even though he was an adult, we thought that bottle garden was just the neatest thing EVER. I'm sure my Aunt & Uncle were probably not as amused by the bottle garden as us kids were.
And since we're on the subject of bottles, since that IS the theme this week, when Thing 2 was just a tyke, I allowed her to continue drinking from a bottle way, way past the time she should have given it up (12 years old is too old, right?) but she just LOVED her "Baba." Baba was her security blanket and Best Friend in the Whole World. Whenever she needed comforting or was upset or tired, she would ask for Baba and then she and Baba would have some quiet time and everything would be ok in her world. In our house, Baba was not an inanimate object; Baba was a Member of the Family. One day, she couldn't find Baba and I listened to her going from room to room, calling out "Baba!" in a worried voice. She ended up in the backyard, standing in the middle of the patio and did her best Stanley Kowalski imitation but instead of crying out, "Stella!" it was "Baba!" that was her cry of despair.
Baba was eventually allowed to retire to the old Bottle Home. Several years later, Thing 2 was looking for something in a cabinet and I heard a little cry of surprise and then she said, with affection, "Baba." A little sigh and then she closed the cabinet door and walked away with a happy little smile and memories of Baba.
how big was that bottle garden?
ReplyDeleteLovely blog. Yes, yes, Baba was my everything when I was 2.....I remember the comfort as if it were yesterday. Wish it would work for me now....
ReplyDeleteLove, Lo
Love the Stella comparison! We called it Baba, too. And we held on to it probably a little longer than we should. But, my wise sister-in-law always used to say, "No one goes to kindergarten in diapers or drinking a bottle. Just relax, everything happens in its own time." She was so right.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious too, just how bid was that garden? I have a neighbor who has a dead orange tree which she has nicely decorated with empty wine bottles. It's really cool actually.
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