How soon we forget

[tsobo]

I'm still a little rattled. Josh was recounting his day on the ride home today, and was mostly rambling incomprehensibly. However, one thing he said got my attention.

"He had the purple Wiggle," said Josh.

"The purple Wiggle?" I asked reflexively.

"Yeah, he had the purple Wiggle."

It was less than a year ago that we started making Josh's Wiggles DVDs disappear, so the lack of a name for the purple Wiggle surprised me.

"Who is the purple Wiggle?" I quizzed him.

"Umm... I know it," said Josh--which of course means he did not know. "I know..."

"Who?"

"Umm..." he dithered.

"Jeff," I answered for him, not exactly wanting to re-awaken his interest in the Wiggles. "Just like your purple cup--your Jeff cup. It's named after Jeff."

"Jeff... yeah," he repeated in a faraway voice. "And they had a dinosaur, too!" he added, regaining his enthusiasm. "The Wiggles' dinosaur!"

"What is the dinosaur's name, Josh?"

"Umm... I know what it is!" he answered--again, meaning that he did not. "I know it!"

To his credit, he tried hard.

"Umm, it is... It's name is... Umm..."

"Dorothy," I supplied.

"Yeah!"

In the following silence, I found my mood sinking. While I did not want to kindle anew his old devotion to the Wiggles, I was surprisingly sad that he could no longer remember their names. It was like remembering an old friend, knowing that you will never see nor hear from them again.

Granted, in this case, it was an old friend who annoyed me to the point of insanity. But still. We all had friends like that.

"Wags!" Josh exclaimed from the backseat at last. "I remembered the dog. His name is Wags! I remembered it!"

Uh oh.