Dear Reader:

Popular songwriter, Kenny Loggins, was interviewed on CBS Sunday 🌞 News and before the interview was over… both celebrity and interviewer were wiping tears away. Why? They had returned to a moment in childhood that they both could relate to.. those rare but nostalgic moments when we wish to return to the wonder and magic of childhood… just one more time.

The story begins in the mid-60’s when musician/ songwriter and performer, Kenny Loggins, was a senior in high school and weeks away from graduation. ( He is 75 now) ” The House at Pooh’s Corner” by AA Milne ( first book Loggins ever read) contained a collection of short stories about Winnie the Pooh’s friends at Hundred Acre Woods.

In the last chapter when Christopher Robin is leaving and tearfully telling everyone good-bye… Loggins says he identified with that emotional moment … similar to what he was experiencing… some part of him knew he was not just leaving home but childhood behind.

So at 17 this amazingly talented songwriter…wrote ” House at Pooh Corner!” Only a few years later the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band heard of it and wanted to record the song. Loggins was over the moon. But then came legal entanglements… Pooh had become a Disney character and their lawyers were saying ” No!” To the release.

Fate stepped in… Loggins had a girl friend who listened to his disappointment and confided that her father was the CIO of Disney Corporation… Loggins said he about drove the car in a ditch in disbelief… the rights were released to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band… and the rest is history.

Twenty-something years later … while expecting his fourth child… Loggins had a thought… ” Why doesn’t somebody make an album for kids that parents could love as much as a kid?” Immediately his first thought was to return to Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh

Upon starting the project he decided to write a new verse ( third stanza) from a different perspective… from a kid to a dad. It was his oldest son who named this song ” Return to Pooh Corner.” ( Today this son is also a songwriter! )

It’s hard to explain how a few precious things seem to follow throughout all our lives. After all said and done… I was watching my son sleeping there with my bear by his side…

So I tucked him-I kissed him and as I was going I swear that old bear whispered ” Boy… Welcome Home!”

( This is when the CBS Reporter and Loggins both had to stop and collect themselves.)

Haven’t we all experienced these moments… perhaps sleeping in your old childhood bed again years after leaving, listening to children playing and laughing in the park, children singing or reading bedtime stories to children , grandchildren, nephews and nieces? We are taken back into the magical world of imagination… kings, queens, princes and princesses , superheroes, unicorns Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and tooth fairies…,

So until tomorrow… I don’t ever want to lose the child in me either…that is why I ” always have a favorite day” and always have a Pooh Bear in close proximity at home… much cheaper than a therapist-the only payment… a hug!!

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

PS Finally… It’s Raining!!! Hugs and kisses God!