Winnie-the-Pooh

My daily e-Mail message from The Writer's Almanac (here) tells me that Winnie-the-Pooh, by A. A. Milne, was published on 14 Oct 1926.

I cannot tell you how much influence the Pooh characters have had in the development of the life of my youngest son, Timothy. Well, Tim, nowadays. He's 24, and no longer a little boy. In fact, he's a Critical Care Medic, and someone who you'd probably want "in your corner" when you are the critically ill patient.

Our lives were filled with Pooh books, Pooh videos and Pooh stuffed animals for a long, long time. Tim even got to hug a real live Pooh Bear when we went to Disneyworld way back when. Now, so many years later, I sometimes can't help but get teary-eyed when I think back on it.

My thanks to the author, who, I just found out (through his Wikipedia entry), died the same year I was born. And thanks to Disney who picked up the stories . . .