Thursday, July 24, 2008

Adam the Ficus


I have a cousin, Todd, who is 64 days younger than me. We rarely got along well - being so close in age. I often got jealous of him, and his awesomeness, like being over 5-foot-7, and not having to drive our Grandma's car because his parents gave him a vintage Mustang convertible instead of handing him down an '81 Buick. Things like that.


But at no time was I more jealous than December, 1976. That's when he got a baby brother, Adam. I didn't have an Adam and I wanted one. But Grandma's aren't just good for '81 Buicks. No, Grandma brought the goods. I got a My Buddy doll. I named him Adam. I carried him by his hair until all that remained were a few synthetic strands of nylon and craters that looked like failed hair plugs.


22 years later, and it's time to name my pet ficus. HEY! PLANTS ARE LIVING THINGS! You CAN name them! Quite frankly, there was only one name that conjures the same, lifelong affection of a best friend. Adam. My Buddy. My Tree.

12 comments:

Rebekah said...

If you have ever been to our house and noticed that we DON'T have a ficus tree then you'll see that Adam didn't make it. Dumb Millie cat.

Chris said...

How terrible is a cat when you're more upset that the cat killed your tree than you were when you put it to sleep.

Yeah, Millie sucked.

Sarah said...

I miss Adam. I do not miss "My Buddy", though. Weren't those the creepiest dolls ever?

Jeremy said...

Whoops, I actually made that last comment. Stupid technology.

Leesa said...

Oh great. Now I have the jingle for My Buddy running through my head. I swear, between you and Rebekah's monchichi post -- ARGGHH!

The Robertson Family said...

Leesa -- I was about to write the same thing! It's stuck in my head! "My buddy, my buddy, wherever I go, he's gonna go, My buddy, my buddy, my buddy and me!"

KJ Druyvesteyn said...

Where was I on the "whole Buddy doll" thing? Never heard of it. Maybe it's a Southern thing? Must be.

Rebekah said...

not a Southern thing, KJ. Chris is from Kansas. In our world, that's really, really north.

Jeremy said...

If I'm not mistaken, "My Buddy" actually inspired the Chucky movies. It's not surprising - those dolls always seemed a few moments away from something sinister.

Chris said...

The My buddy song was revived in this house 6 years ago when Bek got her first nursing pillow, "My brest friend"

The song goes like this

"My brest friend! My brest friend!
My buddy and me like to feed the baby. My buddy and me are the brest friends we can be!"

pink is the new black said...

My Buddy's are scary scary! Even scarier than the 47 Cabbage Patch Dolls sitting in garbage bags in my garage...your's for the taking...

The Robertson Family said...

Chris -- I've noticed that you have no new posts this week...hmmm....could it be that you are getting a taste of what it's like to take care of the kids without the spouse around?? Or is it just that all that actuarying has you tired? Speculation abounds.