I remember that when I was a little kid I had three specific stuff animal toys. The first was Mousy, and she was a gift from my Grandma on my third birthday. The second was Fluffy, a stuffed bear I received as a birthday present from my best friend, Shawna, when I was 6 or 7. The third was a little koala bear that my parents bought for me on our first visit to a gift shop our neighbor opened somewhere in a strip mall. I’m sure there were many other stuffed toys, but these three stayed with me through thick and thin, and these are the ones I remember.
I started thinking of this today when a good friend of mine brought Athena very lovely stuffed blue bear. Athena was recently very very sick but now she is much better and this was what I will call a ‘happy’ gift (as opposed to a ‘get well’ gift since she is already well; and I suppose it could just as easily be called a ‘thank goodness’ gift). I wonder which of Athena’s many toys will be the ones she singles out decades from now as her favorites. Which are the ones she will think back fondly on and wonder where they’ve gone to. I wonder if she’ll retain this attachment she has formed to a cute little hand-me-down dolly that belonged to another friend’s little girl. Athena had that dolly in the hospital and hasn’t lost sight of it for long since she’s been home; which caused a tiny second of panic yesterday when the dolly was almost lost at the local park because Athena insisted on bringing it with her and then dropped it on the playground in favor of the slide. I guess Athena assumed that, of course, the dolly would never be lost. She would just make her way back to the pram on her own, or by the power of Mommy.
We have insurance (e.g. backups) for some of the other toys Athena has or had a special attachment to. She has two Grettas, two Bunnies, well, three if you count Red Bunny, but Red Bunny has been on the outs for a while now. She also has a twin for Melba the Bear. When we went to Melbourne just before Christmas, we stayed in a very lovely hotel. When they came to set up her cot in the room, they brought her a very nice teddy bear. She instantly fell in love with it, so when I realized they also had a couple of them left for sale in their gift shop, I arranged for a twin to come home with us. That twin now resides in Texas with her Grandma there and is looked after by Grandma and one of Athena’s cousins. I am certain this was a good decision because in the few months since our trip to Melbourne, Athena has grown more and more attached to Melba. I suspect that Melba will hold a special place in Athena’s heart for a very long time.
