By Cyndy Harrington    www.dcmtravelreviews.com

 Are you familiar with Flat Stanley?  Rufus is our Flat Stanley. 

Years ago my friend Holly and her husband were stationed in Hawaii.  We were lucky enough to get to go visit them.  We’re pretty easy house guests and don’t require a tour guide very often.   While we were making our plans to tour Oahu, Holly asked if we would mind taking Flat Stanley with us and take pictures of him at the various places we visited.  Ok – I’ll bite – what or who is Flat Stanley??

She took out this little cardboard and fabric makeshift little boy about 10” tall. The cardboard is cut out in the shape of a child and the kid who makes him glues on a fabric shirt and pants and whatever else they like that symbolizes themselves.  They travel.  There is a real Flat Stanley project started by a teacher 20x years ago.  Kids make a Flat Stanley and give it to people to do travel.  You take pictures of Flat Stanley doing fun and interesting things.  You pass Flat Stanley around to people and this child gets these pictures from all around the world.  This one was for a sick child. 

This, I thought, is amazing.  It is so simple, so easy and it will touch a child that may never get well.  It is the very least I can do. 

I will never forget a story on the news a few years later.  The President was about to speak in front of a whole group of people.  They were all standing on a lawn with cameras and reporters shouting questions.  The President pointed into the crowd and said “You.  You – come here.”  And with a huge smile on this face he waved this person from the crowd to come stand next to him.  The man forged his way to the front of the crowd and shook hands.  The President took something from him and the man turned to face the crowd.  The President was holding a Flat Stanley.  He knew.  How fun.  And it made the national news.

 Yep – we had to have our very own version of Flat Stanley.  He came in the form of Rufus, our garden gnome.  Now Rufus sits in our garden with his brother Mortimer (Morty, for short).  Rufus has the primo spot in the garden but he doesn’t get out and about very often.  It seemed like a logical choice.  Doug indulged me and took a nice picture of Rufus and mounted him on cardboard.  Thus, the adventure began.

We started off small and easy – which means people weren’t usually around.  Over the next couple of years we got brave (meaning not embarrassed) so I pulled Rufus out everywhere we went.  I am always asking people to pose with him.  No one has ever refused.  I have him in the cockpit of an airplane, with the CEO of our brokerage firm, in museums and on a cruise ship.  Rufus has a “stunt double”.  We call him R2.  He’s laminated and we have pictures of him floating in front of coral reefs in the Caribbean!  He was even in the wedding party when we renewed our vows.  He poses anywhere and anytime. 

Here’s what I learned.  People are curious and they want to know about Rufus.  We share the Flat Stanley story and tell them that since our son doesn’t travel with us much anymore it’s like our surrogate kid.  That always gets a laugh.  He is a great ice breaker.  We’ve also run into a few people who do the same thing.  They have their own version of Stanley/Rufus and will find all kind of different places to take pictures.  It’s a small club so far, but we’re hoping the word spreads.

THE BIG MISS

When we were in a Chicago pizza place I had neglected to bring Rufus with us.  Four Chicago Swat Police Officers were there dining.  I had the nerve to ask them, but no Rufus.  I will persevere to insure that never happens again!

What is fun:  When we go back and look at pictures of Rufus “getting into trouble” and being places he probably shouldn’t be, were he human, we always laugh.  Life is too short not to laugh and have a little fun.  Rufus just adds that little *extra* to the adventure.