Lenny on the run... again
Early October is when babywearing communities celebrate International Babywearing Week. In Poland it’s usually called the Week of Closeness. At LennyLamb it’s a time to celebrate and promote babywearing and attachment parenting wherever we can.
A year ago, for the Week of Closeness, Lenny set off into the world. He hugged, kept people company, made them laugh, went sightseeing and made new friends. He came back happy, because for many people meeting him was something special. Lenny loves being hugged – nobody doubts that. If you remember, last year Lenny and our team never had an honest talk and, to call a spade a spade, Lenny simply ran away because he couldn’t wait for new meetings. You can relive last year’s events by watching this video.
This year was supposed to be different. Lenny really wanted to visit a few places, and we helped him plan a safe journey. Together we arranged meetings, prepared a map and – once everything was planned down to the last detail – Lenny set off around Poland to hug, meet and discover. The plan seemed as simple as a trip to nursery and back. We settled on the sofa with a box of tissues, ready to follow the news (yes, time without Lenny is always hard for us). Would you believe us if we told you that a well-planned trip to a few Polish cities turned into an adventure thriller with a fight for every minute?
It all started quite innocently and according to plan with a visit to Krapkowice and Kędzierzyn-Koźle, where Lenny was welcomed wonderfully by parents led by Beata Galeczka. What a visit it was! Cuddles, hugs, sightseeing, a trip to the railway station… You could tell Lenny didn’t want to leave at all, but other parents and children were waiting in Rybnik at the Klub Spełnionego Rodzica (Fulfilled Parent Club).
This time everything went according to plan. Hospitable Basia Salamon-Szympruch was waiting at the door. There were tears of emotion and reminiscences (Lenny loves Rybnik and still talks about last year’s Week of Closeness finale with Mea Monika Osińska-Żabka). Time flew by, and at 1 pm a packed Lenny was getting ready for a new adventure, this time in Toruń, with Agnieszka Górska-Pukownik at the Parenting Institute Association, Toruńska Biblioteka Chustowa (Toruń Wrap Library).
It was to be Lenny’s first visit to this wonderful city of astronomy and gingerbread, so he was a bit nervous. Luckily, he set off on schedule. Toruń was ready and waiting, and the coffee for Lenny APPARENTLY smelled delightful… Well, until the courier in Toruń reported that the expected traveller was missing… Phones started ringing, and the search began straight away in beloved Rybnik. All anyone could establish was that he had left. We’ll leave it to your imagination where people looked in Toruń to find the missing sheep. All in vain. The search had been going on for hours; at LL headquarters, amid tears and wailing, materials for a missing-sheep description were being prepared; every ringing phone raised hope and then deepened despair – and suddenly one call turned out to be the lucky one. You won’t believe it, but somehow Lenny had travelled from Rybnik… back to Krapkowice! Beata Galeczka found the world’s most wanted sheep close to tears. How did it happen? We don’t know if it will ever be explained; all we know is that when Lenny was found in Krapkowice, he was waving his old ticket.
It’s impossible to describe how happy everyone was, but the joy quickly gave way to dismay – Lenny no longer had any chance of reaching Toruń, or Olsztyn, where he was heading next. We hope he’ll manage to visit those places one day. In the meantime, Toruń’s gingerbread will have to wait, just like the boat trip around Olsztyn with Majka Mazur that Lenny had planned (Majka runs Chusty Olsztyn and was to host the next meeting).
A little sad, but with a thrill of excitement before the next meeting, Lenny set off for Pomerania. Gdańsk welcomed him joyfully, with Wszechnica Noszącego Rodzica (the Babywearing Parent Academy) and Marta Alabrudzińska at the helm. It was a wonderful meeting: memories from a year ago and the joy of seeing the Academy community, which keeps growing stronger. Their home, Habitat, has a cosy, homely feel, and the meetings and workshops Lenny was able to join brought him lots of joy.
It was so homely that it was hard to set off again, this time once more into the unknown. Szczecin was waiting for Lenny. The poor thing lingered so long in hospitable Gdańsk that he almost missed his train. Luckily, his friends didn’t let him get lost.
In Szczecin, the host was Ada Stefańska from the Pomorze Zachodnie w Chuście (West Pomerania in a Wrap) association. A beautiful Sunday let Lenny join a picnic with parents and enjoy the sunshine and the company.
After an exciting weekend it was time to go home, at least for a moment. Lenny was to start his journey back from a lovely bookshop on Monday, with a certain courier. He waited impatiently for pick-up from noon (you know: east or west, home is best). For some reason the courier never showed up. When he arrived the next day, Lenny was a bit offended because he had to give up his visit home, but, brave as ever, he decided to go to the meeting arranged in Tomaszów Mazowiecki. On Wednesday morning, the Absolutna Bliskość (Absolute Closeness) Association in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, led by Agata Nagórniewicz, was waiting for him. Importantly, Lenny was so exhausted from waiting more than a day on the bookshop doorstep, looking out for the courier, that after telling the latecomer where he was going, he fell fast asleep. Imagine Agata’s surprise when the courier who turned up in Tomaszów handed her… an envelope instead of the long-awaited Lenny! We immediately called a conference call and almost alerted the police – we were all convinced it was a ransom demand, because who could believe Lenny had got lost a second time in one week – and what a week! The truth, unfortunately, was painful: the late courier had sent him to Katowice. Of course, Lenny would have nothing against a trip to Katowice – just not when children, parents, grandparents, a cake and the mayor are waiting for him.
We swallowed the bitter pill – once again Lenny wouldn’t make it on time to two places: Tomaszów and Piotrków Trybunalski. In Piotrków, the Week of Closeness meeting was to be hosted by Klub Piotrkowskich Mam (Piotrków Mums’ Club) with Marta Bińczyk and Katarzyna Czajka. Both meetings had to go ahead without Lenny. This time Lenny wasn’t just disappointed – he was properly annoyed, not to say furious.
Are you feeling tired reading this? Quite a few misadventures, right? Unfortunately, that’s not the end. Lenny still had one last meeting ahead in Zielona Góra, but the road turned out to be just as bumpy. We don’t want to believe in bad luck, so let’s just tell you how the week ended, and you can decide for yourselves whether it was bad luck or not. Lenny did come back from Katowice, but so late that no courier could take him any further. On Friday morning there was an uneven battle to get him delivered by Saturday. One carrier accepted the job, promising Lenny could be collected at a convenient time on Saturday morning. What was a joy on Friday unexpectedly turned into a nightmare on Saturday: the pick-up point was locked tight and nobody could be reached. We thank Sylwia Misiak (Nowoczesne Rodzicielstwo, Centrum Bliskości, Stowarzyszenie Przestrzeń 4a) for her perseverance and determination. Thanks to her, that same day we managed to find out where Lenny was, and one thing was certain: it wasn’t Zielona Góra. The TV crew, parents and organisers were waiting for Lenny, and he – through no fault of his own or ours – had ended up in… Katowice. Yet another celebration took place without Lenny. In the end, Sylwia organised a meeting with Lenny on Monday. We’re sure Lenny will never be able to thank her enough for letting him hug and enjoy the company of parents and children again after such a long time of wandering and loneliness.
