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Family Daze
An unsuspecting family succumbs to Fuzzy's lure
By Debbie Farmer
The most popular member of my daughter's kindergarten class is Fuzzy Bear, a 2-foot-tall stuffed animal with matted fur, beady eyes and a dubious odor. He is raffled off on Friday to spend the weekend with an unsuspecting family, who is supposed to record its weekend adventures in his journal .
The weekend my daughter won Fuzzy Bear, it took three trips to carry his luggage from the classroom into the car. He had a wardrobe larger than Ivana Trump. He had jeans for camping, pajamas for relaxing, suits for power lunches and ski gear for weekends in Tahoe. He also had various gifts from the children: a miniature car (minus the wheels), three feet of train track (minus the train) and a plastic Tyrannosaurus rex with a Malibu Barbie head.
"I hope he has coveralls and a tool belt," my husband said when we arrived home. "I plan on tuning up the car and repairing the roof this weekend."
My hopes were dashed. How were we supposed to have an exciting, adventurous family experience to write about if we didn't take a day trip? I knew that by Monday the word would be out that my children spend their weekends in their slippers in front of the TV and are as stimulated as a pack of hibernating stump slugs.
I quickly found the journal and began scanning the pages to see what Fuzzy Bear did with other families.
According to the journal, the McGlory family went scuba diving off the California coast, and discovered a wrecked Spanish galleon containing sunken treasure. The Looneys went camping for two days in the wilderness and taught Fuzzy Bear how to gut a fish and build a campfire with two sticks. The Kraftys watched the migration of the whales and created a papier mâché replica of Orca in their garage. Nowhere did it say Fuzzy Bear stayed in his pajamas all weekend and watched 48 consecutive hours of Cartoon Network.
I was determined that my children and I would have something wonderful to write about so, at dawn on Saturday morning, we dressed Fuzzy in a nautical outfit and went garage sailing. We explored unfamiliar neighborhoods, watched the sun rise above a velvet painting of Elvis, and felt the wind whip at our backs.
After mooring the car at home for lunch, we changed Fuzzy into hiking boots and camouflage fatigues and took a nature walk down the driveway to the mailbox.
"Let's see how many plants and animals we can observe," I said. We found two leaves that hadn't blown away yet, several ants on an old soda can in the gutter, and the neighbor's cat.
When we recovered from all of the fresh air my daughter announced she wanted to go camping, so we tossed blankets and pillows on the lawn furniture in the backyard. We roasted marshmallows over the gas grill and read stories by the glow of the porch light.
The next morning we went on a safari to the wilds of the neighborhood grocery store to buy breakfast. We observed live lobsters splashing in the tank and fought off a band of vultures trying to steal our cart while we sampled a new jelly flavor on a cracker.
In the evening, I gathered the children on my lap and opened the journal.
I wrote:
Dear Journal,
The Farmer family is incredible! I sailed at sunrise and communed with nature. I camped under the stars and went on a safari to an exciting and hostile place. I learned how to collect samples of wildlife and preserve them. My weekend was nonstop fun and excitement!
Love,
Fuzzy B.
P.S. The television wasn't turned on once and no one sat on the sofa and ate chips for breakfast in their pajamas.
Debbie Farmer can be reached at familydaze@home.com.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
