benji superstar - puppy power!
Those of you who are around my age may remember Benji, the "lovable mutt who had an uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time, usually helping a person overcome a problem." Ah, Joe Camp. You creative genius, you.
I've had a stuffed animal in the likeness of Benji almost as long as I can remember. In fact, the acquisition of the Benji doll is the first time I can recall being reasonable.
If I had to guess, I'd say I was about 3 or 4 years old. I was with my mom at the Jersey Shore. We were walking the boardwalk and playing games. My favorite was the big spinning wheel, where you would put a quarter on a square with a particular symbol or word on it and hope that the spinning wheel stopped on the corresponding slot.
I distinctly remember putting a quarter on the 'Pop' square (because I loved my grandfather pretty much more than anything in the world), and holding my mom's hand as we watched the wheel spin. The ladies working the booth let me stand on the counter because I was so small. When it stopped on 'Pop', I jumped up and down and clapped. The lady told me that I could get a Smurfette doll or a Benji doll. I had no clue who or what Benji was, but (*enter staggering little kid logic*) I figured that I already had a Smurfette doll at home... so why would I want two of the same thing?
Thus began the longest friendship of my life. I slept with Benji that night, and nearly every night thereafter for 24 years. When I decided to run away from home at age 6, Benji and my Golden Books were the only things I packed. When I decided that it was time to be a grown-up at age 12, I threw away all of my stuffed animals but him. When I moved to California in 2000, Benji was tucked away in my carry-on. It wasn't until I met Richard that I was able to permanently station Benji in the hall closet. He gleefully peers out from a canvas shoulder bag, greeting me every time I grab a jacket.
Suffice it to say, the love mileage really shows. His body is limp, his fake fur is matted, and his beady little eyes are permanently obscured by a saggy brow. The fluff on his neck has completely worn away to reveal the stuffing underneath. All the print has faded off his tag, save the 'LAINA'S BENJI' that my mom wrote in permanent red ink when I took him to show-and-tell at age 5. At worst, I've lived in the fear that his head would pop clean off. At best, I've been saddened every time I look at his tattered body.
Enter my friend Adrienne, knitting goddess with a weakness for movies based on Jane Austen novels. When she hostessed a knitting-or-crinaline-required tea party, I had to come up with a project... and fast. What to do, what to do? I was a very jaded nascent knitter. The idea of another scarf depressed me, but I didn't feel ready to tackle something big and complicated. Moreover, I didn't want to knit something pointless that would sit on a shelf and collect dust.
But recall that Benji has an "uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time, usually helping a person overcome a problem." And how! Check out my dapper little dog in his silly little sweater:
Just when you think I can't become any more of a loser, I go and pull something like this. Can't help it. Love my little guy... and see how smart he looks in his sweater?
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