GOD HELP ME, I’VE BECOME MR. GREENJEANS!
I can still hear the theme song, every single note, of the long-running kid’s program, Captain Kangaroo.
Maybe you were raised on that program as well; if so, you were well-served by its creator, and yours, too.
Gentle, informative, creative, musical…life lessons for kids without the snark or sarcasm of any kid’s show of the present day, it was safe harbor for children and parents alike when I was tyke-in’ around my old neighborhood.
And one of the features of the Captain Kangaroo show was the sweet-natured jack-of-all-trades (and master of all of them to a 7-year-old)…MR. GREENJEANS!
There seemed to be nothing Mr. Greenjeans couldn’t fix, grow, explain, pet, or handle. He usually had an interesting animal or two with him, and city kids got to see for the first time little creatures unknown in the blacktop jungle.
On one program, he was actually bitten by a baby lion cub, but no biggie! Mr. Greenjeans just stuck his bleeding hand in the pocket of his green jeans and went on with the show.
What a man!
As an extension of who he was in real life, Hugh Brannum was the ultimate neighborhood handyman, and at the time I thought him someone very worth emulating.
I really knew nothing about Hugh, and only recently learned that in his career he actually was what I would become in my own – a singer, musician, actor, composer, arranger, interested and curious about all things in the natural world, a believer in the concept of the movability of intelligence into any field of human endeavor.
Like me!
And here on the farm, deep in this jungle where you are the resource you must rely on, the encouragement I got from him to learn and be curious about EVERYTHING has proven to be my saving grace.
I do plumbing, simple electric and every sort of handyman-ish task that needs doin’; I build things out of flotsam, jetsam and pallets (chicken nesting boxes today); I tend gardens; I doctor and feed all kinds of animals (the human ones too!); I still write and compose and sing (even sans teeth) and play music on my first love, the guitar.
And the reason for this post today is that as I dressed for my day’s worth of adventure, I looked down and saw myself garbed in the clothing of one of the great friends of my childhood.
Hugh Brannum…I sure miss you, but I’ll be darned if you aren’t still with me everywhere I go.
And I couldn’t be happier about it!
God bless you, Mr. Greenjeans.
