Not your ordinary lawn art

I just got home from seeing Gnomio and Juliet …… and it reminded me that it’s about time to introduce a key character in this adventure I’m calling my life - his name is Cedric. Is he my boyfriend? brother? best friend? Nope…..he’s a garden gnome.  A two-and-a-half-inch tall garden gnome, to be exact, that came into my life via my Christmas stocking. No, no…I know what you’re thinking; leave Saint Nick out of this. In my family Christmas stockings are the territory of my parents, more particularly my mother. It was December 2006 and there was little Cedric with his passport, all ready to head off to study abroad with me in England.


It took about one night of group drunkenness to decide that Cedric was going to be our mascot and roughly another two nights to create him a Facebook account.  (look him up by the way….Cedric T. loves making friends) The upshot is, Cedric went everywhere we did. He lived in my purse and came out for a photo shoot whenever we felt the need for a little whimsy. When he isn’t out traveling, Cedric lives in a pint glass with his friend Smurfette and a few pebbles from the Brighton beach.


Cedric’s biggest adventure to date is being left in the Imaginarium, a children’s museum in Anchorage, Alaska. There was an attempt at a stop animation video that resulted in Cedric being tossed back into a box of toys with everything else. …oops! I didn’t realize my mistake until I was all the way back in Georgia….bigger oops! So I did what any 23-year-old girl who’s lost her toy gnome would do….I called the museum and lied through my teeth.  Told some story about a cousin with a Flat Stanley project, using my near panic to believably feign concern over my “cousin”….. I really cashed in some karma points with that one. It took about a month, but Cedric was safely returned.


In short, Cedric T. Gnome is a two-and-a-half-inch, pointy-hat-wearing trip down memory lane. Every time I pick him up I am reminded of one of my excellent adventures. So keep an eye out for the little gnome that roams…..not just in my blog either. And when you see Cedric give me a hug, because I sure will be happy to see you.