BEDA Day 5: Pooh Sticks and Growing Up

Today I am sick. I do not feel like blogging. And so to cheer myself up I am going to watch Winnie the Pooh. I am still a 5 year old girl at heart and so when I am sick I like to watch Disney. This has also prompted me to declare Sunday as my Blast from the Past Day. Every Sunday for the rest of the month I will find something from my childhood that I miss and share it with whomever chooses to read this lowly blog.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is probably one of my all time favorite Disney movies. I can recite this whole movie from memory. That is not an exaggeration. This is how I became known as Bee.

I used to bother my older brothers all the time so they decided whenever I talked to pretend I was a buzzing bee, swat me away, and say, "The only reason to make a buzzing noise is because...you're a Bee! And the only reason for being a Bee is to make honey. And the only reason for making honey is so I can eat it."

Still to this day Danny calls me Bee. I don't think he has ever called me by my real name.

But all of this is beside the point. Today is the unofficial beginning of spring for my family. It's Pick Up Sticks Day! It's not really called that but I just decided to name it because it sounds more official. Every year when the grass turns green we have to pick up all the sticks.

I don't know how it happened. But this morning when I woke up andmy mother told me we have to go pick up sticks, I didn't believe her. "The grass can't be green already. It's still winter."Of course, it is not winter. I know this because on the first day of spring I got free Rita's. It was delicious.

But I just didn't expect it to really be green and springtime-y yet. I haven't been paying attention and now all of the sudden it's April and it's time to pick up sticks.

This is a very big event in my family. It takes all day because we own 25 acres of farmland. Everyone is given an area and is responsible for piling all the sticks in one place so that Dad can come and pick them up with the tractor scooper-thingy later. [It's a stupid tradition. But we have to do it because we need to clear away all the sticks so we can mow the grass easily.]

One of the best things about Pick Up Sticks Day is that after we clear our area we choose the best stick of the day and play an epic round of Pooh Sticks.

Pooh Sticks is my favorite Pipitone family tradition. Pick Up Sticks Day is the official opening of Pooh Sticks season.

This Pick Up Sticks Day, however, is sad. First, because I am sick. Second, because all of my older siblings have moved away. I am the only one here to keep the tradition alive.
In some ways I can't wait to leave for college next year but in other ways I don't like all this growing up at all. I want to five years old again.

This BEDA turned out to be suprisingly bittersweet. Now, I'm all nostalgic and shit. I don't like it. I don't like it at all.