Yesterday was Friday- and I was at school all day, a good day (love my classes/kids this semester!), then an appointment with Dr. Mike, then stopped by AC Moore for some large black/white/gray paper for photo backdrops. (I also ended up with turquoise and grey felt, and a couple of white unscented candles for another one of my 'I'm gonna make my own good smells' projects). When I got home- late, around 7, the manz had dinner waiting (salad with chicken- he cooks the chicken up in various secret-man-ways and it is moist and very savory) and had cleaned the studio. Not just kinda cleaned, but move everything and do the floors, take cushions out of chairs, even clean the Max nest type of cleaning. (Of course, this has nothing at all to do with his inability to handle late night poptarts. Friday morning I found him sound asleep in his chair, an empty poptart wrapper clenched firmly in his right hand, tell tale crumbs in the beard. Tsk- looks like it might be time for an intervention- what I didn't know though is that only *part* of the poptart had gotten eaten, and the rest had fallen into the chair. Where it got sat on and slept on and smushed.....)
Anyway, he vacuumed out the chairs. In his chair there were usual bits of manz things- crumbs (even though he is the most Felix snacker I know, except for those late night indulgences), a stray bit of paper, some cat hair. Then he cleaned out my chair, and found: Max hair (of course, he is my lap dog), embroidery floss, wool yarn, fabric, bits of paper, bits of charcoal and crayons, an ink pen, several needles including a huge tapestry needle that I have been looking for forever (I use it to sew books), scissors, and this scrap of fabric that says 'I Love You'....and that is where the story is.
When I was a little girl, I loved my dolls. I remember them- Jenny, the tall 'walking' doll that had a blue velveteen dress and odd short grey hair (she looked a bit like Maude from Golden Girls), Baby (soft cloth body, soft vinyl head, hands, feet) all the barbies in the universe, Ollie (a homemade version of Raggedy Ann, with multicolored hair, a blue/tan check dress and embroidered face) and Raggedy Anne. There were others- and the all important stuffed animals- but these where my absolute favorites. I would dress up (I had someones white dress- it looked like a communion dress?- an apron with a type of strawberry pattern on it, a blonde curly wig and a straw bucket hat), turn the rocking chair upside down with the top resting on the couch so it would make a gypsy wagon/ boat/ hut (the swivel rocker part on the bottom would show and make for an excellent steering device) and drag out all my 'friends', my huge box of plastic dishes (and treasured plastic fruits and tiny cans) and play for hours. I loved doing that- I still remember everything, and sometimes wish I could time travel back to loosing myself in my imagination for hours like that again.
The Raggedy Ann doll was special. I honestly can't remember where I got it- if it was given to me, or handed down or where it came from- but it was a 'real' Raggedy Ann. It had a calico red/white print dress, white cotton apron, stripy red and white legs with black shoes (the legs and shoes were part of the doll), black smooth button eyes and the red yarn hair. Her body was pale flesh- 'me' color- and...the best part...she had the 'I love you' heart printed on her chest. I loved her.
Raggedy Ann was one of my favorites, and I kept her for many years after- she went to California with me, then South Carolina, then to the Mountains. She sat on a small rocker in the living room until she was replaced by a Grendel, then she lived in the Cedar chest. Many years later, she came back out on display again- which wasn't a good thing after all.
I don't remember exactly where it happened, or when (except that it was post-Grendel), or which of my many doggs was the culprit (I highly suspect Ruffian), but someone chewed her eyes off. I was mad and horrified and didn't know how to fix her, so back into the cedar chest she went. We moved out here to the cottage, had mousey problems, and when I cleaned out the cedar chest (and discovered a hole in the bottom) discovered that Raggedy Ann was the preferred home of the mice. They left everything else alone, oddly enough- afgans, baby blankets, my wedding dress....and that was good...but poor Ann! She had met her maker. I let her go....but, I saved the bit of body with the heart on it. It ended up in one of my project baskets or something, and I hadn't remembered it or thought of it in years....and then Mr. Owens finds it in my chair. I knew what it was right away and happily proclaimed "You found Raggedy Ann's Heart!".....I'm glad that he has sense enough and knows me well enough to have saved it instead of tossing it.
I don't know what my plans for it are right now- but I'm thinking of a small frame, and hanging it above our bed. It makes me absurdly happy, and deserves to be treasured- a bit of love from long ago.
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