There's a Wocket in My Pocket

One of my favorite Dr. Suess books I remember from my childhood is the lesser known There's a Wocket in My Pocket.  It is the story of boy who talks about all the different creatures that live in his house.  It being a Dr. Suess book, everything rhymes with where it is located (i.e. the ZOWER in the SHOWER and the WOSET in the CLOSET).  You get the idea. 

Yes, I also have an affection for the more popular Fox in Sox, Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and of course Hop on Pop.  Those were fan favorites in our household, and I distinctly remember sitting in my dad's lap while he read them to me.  I cherish those memories!

So what was the attraction to There's a Wocket in My Pocket?  The graphics were intriguing, and the rhymes were fun to say, but my favorite part was the last line of the book.  Despite all the crazy things inside the cupboards and under the rug, the boy declares, "That's the kind of house I live in. And I hope we never leave it."   I would savor those words every time I read them.

Like the boy in the book, I also hoped we would never leave the house we were currently living in, but I knew that, being an Air Force family,  a move was inevitable, so it became wishful thinking.  I had friends that grew up in the same house from the time they were born until the time they went to college, and I used to wonder what that would be like. 

Looking back I have to say I am grateful that every two or three years we were forced to clean out our closets and go through our toys and keep only what we truly wanted.  I despise being a pack-rat, but after living in a house for a few years, clutter becomes inevitable.  Now I have to force myself to go through my closet and get rid of clothes I don't wear, and other items I can do without. 

Although some took longer to get used to than others, I ended up loving every house, apartment, trailer, rental home, city, county, subdivision, village, temporary living quarters (TLQ), and base quarters (BLQ) we lived in.  The one thing that was not my favorite was when all five of us shared a hotel room for a few weeks in Kansas before the TLQ was available.  Eeeek!  Too close for comfort is an understatement!   

As difficult as they were, moves were always exciting on the other end.  Unpacking boxes was a little bit like Christmas.  There were times we'd find items in boxes that none of us ever remembered owning.  Strange, but true.    And there were times we would unpack a box and  wonder what on earth made us keep the items we found inside. 

Military moves forced my family to become really good at sorting.  We had to decide what we couldn't live without for a few months but that we needed right away when we first arrived.  That was the first shipment called Hold Baggage.  This would include dishes, linens, a lawn chair or two, etc...   Then we had to decide what we wanted to keep up until the end, but we wouldn't get for months later at the new location.  This second shipment was called Household Goods.  It was the bigger of the two shipments and included all the furniture.  The final category of items was what we carried with us in the suitcase...basically what we would wear for the next few months or so while we visited family before arriving at our new assignment.   This was called You Packed It, You Carry It. 

I loved seeing the familiar objects unpacked and put in their new places.  Soon the new house became more familiar as our items from the past filled the spaces.  It began to look more like a home rather than an empty shell.  And I would snuggle down under my blankets in my bed as I drifted off to sleep thinking, "This is the kind of house I live in.  And I hope we never leave it."