๐๐๐ซ๐ค๐ง๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ฎ ๐๐๐๐ง ๐งธ
When I was a very young child, I had a favorite teddy bear. I donโt know if he had a name, but he did go everywhere with me. We were inseparable. I loved him.
He was so loved that his fur had been rubbed off of him in many places. He was so loved that my mom had to sew fabric around his middle to keep his insides from falling out. For the sake of this blog, Iโll be referring to this most loved teddy bear as Teddy, or Ted.
As I mentioned, Teddy went everywhere with me. I know I brought him into the bathroom, but not necessarily the bathtub. I carried him always. Thereโs not a single pic of me when I was a child that Teddy wasnโt in also. (Unfortunately my childhood albums were destroyed in a fire, so I cannot provide a pic of Teddy.) But he was a brown bear with green and white plaid fabric around his middle, and he had a plastic face.
๐พ๐๐ง ๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ฉ
I remember when I was about three years old, my mom was crossing the street with me in tow. I had accidentally dropped Teddy, and my mom wouldnโt let me go fetch him as he was in the middle of the busy intersection. I kicked and screamed, I eventually got loose from my mom and went running back into the intersection to grab Teddy. A car screeched to a stop and according to my mom, bumped into me. I still have the bump on the back of my head.
๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ค ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฅ
When I was around 10 years old, my parents bought a new refrigerator. I still had Teddy, but I didnโt carry him everywhere. He sat on my bed, along with my other stuffed animals. He was still highly treasured and was pretty disgusting. This, of course, didnโt make me love him any less.
Well, my mom was cleaning, my dad was replacing the refrigerator, and in the garage was the huge box that the refrigerator came in. It was really tall. My parents decided it was time to throw Teddy out. He was sitting on top of that very high box. I wanted him back!
Needless to say, I wasnโt able to reach Teddy, and he went into the garbage. ๐ญ
๐๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฎ
I missed him awfully bad. There was an ache in my heart that he was missing me too. I vowed that when I became 18 years old, I was going to go to the landfill and find him!
I often wrote him letters, letting him know how much I loved him and how greatly I missed him. I threw all of my letters into the garbage, thinking he might see them, as he, too, was in the garbage.
๐๐ค๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ค ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ก๐ก
I think I was 16 years old when I went to my very first landfill – the same landfill that Teddy was at! My hopes of ever finding him were crushed right then and there. No way would I ever find him!
๐๐๐๐๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐๐๐ง ๐พ๐ค๐ก๐ก๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ
I started collecting teddy bears. They had to โtalkโ to me. Before the Bear Fire of 2017 (such a fitting name – NOT), I had a lot of bears – big and small, one that I bought in New Orleans with moveable arms and legs, one had a triangular head that I picked out at an antique store, one with hearts all over it, many antique bears with dresses, Paddington Bear, and so many others. I even had a few Winnie the Pooh bears. But needless to say, they are all gone.
๐๐๐ก๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฉ
My mom used to read me this book when I was a child. I loved this book, and the story that when a stuffed animal is loved, it comes to life. If only this were true…
๐ฟ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ค๐ง๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ฉ๐ค๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฃ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช ๐ฌ๐๐ง๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐?
JC Heart Designs 