Victoria Noe

Award-winning Author, Speaker, Activist

Grief Lessons from Winnie the Pooh

Jan 18, 2012 by Victoria Noe, in Friendship , Grief , Winnie the Pooh
A.A. Milne (and friends)
Today is A.A. Milne's birthday. I've read his Winnie the Pooh stories in English and Latin (Winnie ille Pooh, as I recall). I was in a show in college with his great-niece. My daughter's nursery was full of Pooh and his friends. In honor of Milne's birthday, I'm bringing back my reflection on Pooh.

Perhaps my favorite children’s stories are about Christopher Robin and his best friend, Winnie the Pooh.
There was always an ordinary quality to their stories: get up in the morning and see what happens. Characters had strengths and flaws, but were always accepted
We all have friends like Tigger - the personification of ADHD - whose non-stop energy is exhausting. Who doesn’t have a friend like Eeyore, who assumes the worst in any situation? And Rabbit: I mean, really, who wants a party-pooper like him for a friend?
Actually, we all have friends like them and the other characters in the book. And although from time to time they all get frustrated with the others, they are quick to forgive and forget. Well, maybe not Rabbit…
It’s not Charlotte’s Web: no one dies. But there is a death of sorts in Christopher Robin’s leaving for school.
He knows something’s coming, a day when he can no longer do “Nothing” with his friends. Not only that, he’s going away, to a place he’s only heard about from grownups: the great unknown. He can’t take his friends with him, and he knows that even though they won’t change, he will.
But Christopher Robin and Pooh make a pact to always be friends, always do “Nothing” together, even if they’re apart.
A.A. Milne, creator of the adventures of Christopher Robin and his friends, had a lot to say about the strong bonds of friendship. Following are some quotes from the man who introduced us to a ‘bear of very little brain’, but a heart the size of the universe:

“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.”

 “If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together... there is something you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart... I'll always be with you.”

 
 “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

 
 “I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart for so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can be together all the time.”