YOUNG CHANG -- Reporter’s Notebook

I wonder what A.A. Milne was like.

I hope he loved his friends and that he had a sweet tooth, especially

for “hunny.” Maybe he was chubby, maybe he had a favorite red shirt. But

most of all, I hope and assume the author was kind and gentle and able to

touch people.

Just like his star character, Winnie-the-Pooh.

There’s something about that “silly old bear” that gets me every time.

The way his little, red shirt flaps upward over his not so little tummy.

The way he devours honey and gets it all over his face. The way he

cherishes his friends -- Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Rabbit, Owl, Kanga and,

of course, Christopher Robin.

I visit the Disney Store because I know Pooh is there. I adore Pooh

key chains, Pooh dolls, even Pooh bedsheets. I once almost bought a denim

jacket with a big Pooh face sewn on the back. It was last year -- I was

22 -- so I bought a Pooh book instead.

I cried reading it. The pictures were glossy and beautiful. Pooh’s

expressions were heartbreaking and adorable. When he slept, he wore white

pajamas and a salmon-pink night cap. When it was windy, he wore a yellow

scarf.

Last weekend, he wore his usual red shirt and carried his pot of

“hunny” on stage during “A Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas Tail” at the Trilogy

Playhouse in Costa Mesa. Matt Bartosch, the character of Pooh, had an

appropriately sweet and mild voice.

In the play, Eeyore lost his tail. Pooh and the gang searched for and

found it -- Owl had stumbled upon the tail in the forest and used it as a

pull-string for his new doorbell. They presented it to Eeyore at a party

with other thoughtful Christmas gifts. The lesson was that friendship is

important.

I agree.

My closest friends who are fellow Pooh fans get to share his name. In

college, Cindy was Cindy-pooh. Diana was Diana-pooh. My friend Torus is

Torus-pooh. Tami is just Pooh. I address her by her real name only when

colleagues are around.

Sometimes I also wonder what Ernest H. Shepard -- the illustrator of

the original Pooh books in the early 1900s -- was like. Milne invented

Pooh, but Shepard’s hands brought him to life on paper. I’m grateful for

the way he saw that silly ol’ bear.

Most of all, I wonder about Milne. How he thought up a name like

“Pooh,” how he thought to misspell “honey,” how he decided Pooh’s red

shirt wouldn’t fit exactly right.

I wish I had known him. I guess, through his books, I’m getting to

know him. But I would like to shake Milne’s hand and thank him. For

several reasons.

For making me smile while I’m stuck in the car during rush hour

because the car next to me has a huge Pooh sun shade inside its passenger

window.

For helping me relax in the office because a colleague of mine has

countless Poohs on her Winnie-the-Pooh screen saver.

For reminding me that some things really can be universally, eternally

sweet.

* YOUNG CHANG is the Daily Pilot’s features writer. She is, and always

will be, a Winnie-the-Pooh fan.