My Gargoyle

NOTE: I wrote this entry on Wednesday, and then couldn't decide whether or not to post it because I wasn't sure anyone would care. And then my Dad emailed and asked to see a picture of my gargoyle. So I decided people would be interested...or at least the really important ones would!

So I thought I'd tell you a little more about my gargoyle...mostly so I have an excuse to put his picture on the blog.

His name is Wilbur. Only one, or possibly two, people know why that is his name. And I am not sure they both read the blog.

One of my best friends in grad school and I got invited one Christmas before I joined the Foreign Service to a party. At the party, we played the white elephant game.

You probably know this game. Everyone brings a "gift," usually something odd and perhaps unwanted. Some people also bring good stuff, but they just don't understand the game. Usually there is a price limit of say around five dollars.

So not having anything interesting to bring, he and I stopped on the way to the party at the local Goodwill outside of Durham. We scoured the place looking for odd and funny finds.

I don't remember what my friend found, but I found Wilbur. I was delighted with my find. What a perfectly odd present for the party!

Wilbur the gargoyle is maybe 7 inches tall and made of white plaster.

Gift in tow, we headed to the party...and then something weird happened.

I started to really like Wilbur. I decided I wanted to KEEP Wilbur.

But I had no other gift for the game, so I placed him in a gift bag and put him with all the other presents.

And then when it was my turn, I picked my own gift bag.

I don't remember if anyone else tried to take him...I just know I ended up with him.

And he has travelled with me ever since.

He guarded my fireplaces in Chapel Hill and Arlington, the living room in Jerusalem.

Now he is the door stop on my bedroom door (the weird, distressed wooden door that won't stay open), guarding my bedroom.

He is a little worse for wear, having gotten a few dings in the process of moving again and again and again. But he has become one of the weird things that I take with me each time I love to a new place, one of the things that makes it home.

All of which I told you, like I said, so I could put his picture on the blog. Thanks for your patience. We will resume our regular blogging topics next time.