Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was raining that night. The night that I met Winnie. I was walking home when I saw a little boy standing all alone on the sidewalk. The interesting thing about the boy was not that he was alone, nor that he was on the sidewalk, but that he was wearing a big, squishy, orangey-yellow suit. I recognized the suit instantly from my early childhood. It was Winnie the Pooh Bear! Forgetting the rain, I approached the boy. He turned to me slowly, but said nothing. After clearing my throat two or three times, I asked the big question: "Who are you?" The boy was silent for a long time. He stared at me without blinking for so long that I started to get nervous. When he finally opened his mouth, he spoke in a cute high-pitched voice, "I'm Winnie Pooh!" I was startled. Surely that couldn't be his real name? But the boy went on to say, "I'm waiting for my guardian. Since I'm a water nymph, I need one. I wonder what my guardian will be like?" Now I was really surprised. A little boy in a cartoon bear suit claimed to be the bear and a water nymph! I felt that I needed to sit down, but since everything was drenched in rain water, I decided against it. I asked little Winnie several questions, most of which he couldn't answer, but before the rain was gone, I had agreed to be his guardian. As we walked home together, hand in hand, the sun came out from behind a cloud. A rainbow led us home.