Jack

Thank you, Jack, for still smiling after all these years even though your neck is hurt.

This is Jack. He has a story. And it is worth telling. Jack has been in the family now for almost 12 years. He came from humble beginnings: A little toy sitting on the shelf at Publix. Mom (a.k.a. Mommom) found the little jack-in-the-box and purchased him. Jack is the first official toy she bought for Kayleigh. Jack and Kayleigh became fast friends and he was her favorite toy at Mommom's house.

"Again...Again," I can still hear her say as we cranked Jack and shouted, "Pop goes the weasel" for the billionth time.

And then one day Kayleigh stopped playing with Jack. I remember asking her, "Where's your Jack-in-the-box, Kayleigh?" It had been several weeks since we had seen him. Mommom found Jack. Oh my goodness! Jack was absolutely foul smelling! No wonder Kayleigh did not want to play with him; Jack reeked! We could not figure out what the smell was, so Mommom opened Jack up and to our dismay found a moldy, rancid, rotten piece of cheese.

Kayleigh then confessed, "I thought he was hungry so I fed him some cheese."

We started laughing hysterically. Mommom cleaned Jack up and he was good as new.

Kayleigh out grew Jack but Everett came along and also loved to play with him when visiting Mommom's house. Sadly, as Kayleigh and Everett got bigger, we forgot about him.


Now it is about 5 years later and because of our little Cozette, we have rekindled our friendship with Jack. Mommom graciously lets us keep him at our house now. Cozette loves Jack. I crank him about 19 times a day. Cozette will literally bring Jack to me, drop him in my lap and say, "Uh!"

I interpret that as meaning, "Again...Again, Mommy!"

There have been times lately when I am sitting on the family room floor, talking to Brad on the phone and find myself whispering to him, "Oh no! Cozette just found Jack again." Brad starts to laugh really hard while I excuse myself for a few moments, so I can crank Jack and shout yet again, "Pop goes the weasel!"

I happily shout it.

Thanks Jack for all the memories!