Dr. Seuss was an absolute childhood favorite of mine.  Many nights I would lay in bed and read and reread a multitude of Dr. Seuss books… they are a wonderful part of my childhood memories.  Since I found out that his birthday was earlier this week I thought that I would tribute Dr. Seuss as I tell a story of a love that I was an eyewitness to this week…Enjoy

This is the story of Lydia McNoo
And the time she fell into the Gribbidy Goo

The house of Lydia was painted bright green
And in the town of Hooploo that meant she was mean

But mean she was not
Not the teensiest bit
Not a speck of the speckiest
Of mean in that kid

She loved to smell flowers
And dance in the rain
And rescue wild banzoos
That were hurt and in pain

The townfolks loved Lydia
At least those who knew
That Lydia was kind
Maybe kinder than you

But one day that changed
When she went into town
And all of the Hooplooligans
were standing around

They were reading a sign that flew in the air
It said” Green houses are bad. Does anyone care?”

Lydia saw people looking at her
And right at that moment she felt insecure

Her house was green
As green as a gleen
And then deep inside
She felt kind of mean

With tears in her eyes she ran far away
She could hear distant voices calling her name

Lydia felt tired and tiny inside
And with a her new meanness decided to hide

A Vonvoo tree stood dark and alone
And Lydia thought it was the perfect home

She climbed way up high as wild banzoos do
Way up high in the big Vonvoo
But the limb wasn’t strong enough for Lydia McNoo
It broke and tossed her into the gribbidy goo

It was stinky and dirty and in it she sat
She felt so alone ……she felt so sad
She squirmed and moved
trying hard to get out
She heard people coming
she heard people shout

“Lydia McNoo, we are looking for you!”
“We are looking for you,Lydia McNoo!”

She was quiet and wanted others not to see
That she was filthy, smelly and felt pretty mean

The crowd got closer and closer they got
The light shined on Lydia and the crowd quietly stopped

“Lydia, we’ve found you!” said Matthew McZee
“Here in the Goo under the Vonvoo tree”

“We want to help you get out of that goo.
We are here to help… we are here to help you.”

Too ashamed to look up, Lydia looked down
“You don’t understand,” she said, “I’m bad for your town.”

“My house is green and you should care,
that its best for Hooploo that I not live there”

Matthew smiled and held out his hand
And lifted Lydia onto dry land

“Here now Lydia, let’s get you clean.
We never ever thought you were mean.”

Lydia looked up and saw all the smiles
and knew then and there
She was off by a mile

The people still loved her and they didn’t care
That her house was bright green
They wanted her there
The moon over Hooploo shined brighter that night
and Lydia felt good… she felt all right

She was thankful for friends and glad that it was known
that Hooplooligans loved her and wanted her home

The story’s not over because to Lydia’s surprise
She arrived home to a sight for sore eyes

To help her know that their love was true
Her green house was now painted a bright shade of blue.

So if you’re squirming in Gribbidy Goo
Lift your head up and see who loves you.