Things You Cling To

As a child many people have a favored blanket or bear or something that they use for comfort. I had "Dolly" and "Mutsie". Dolly was a doll made from a patterned material which my mother cut out and sewed together. She used panty hose that had run to stuff my dolly. I dragged her around by her leg because it was easy to grip for a little hand. I still have dolly somewhere but I gave her up in my early childhood. I also had a little monkey called "Mutsie". He has survived the ages also but I long ago gave up taking him everywhere too.

My son has many stuffed animals and used to have a favorite blanket, well two. My husband had a talk with him when he turned 7 and Nicholas gave up his blankets. Now that they are out of site he doesn't ask for them but I know if I pulled them out again he would snuggle with them again. My middle daughter has no real favorite animal or blanket. She never really has. Caroline, the youngest, has a bear, called "Bear". She loves him and sleeps with him most every night. She takes him to sleep overs at her grandparents' houses. But even at 5 there are nights she could take him or leave him. Just last night she didn't bother to get him out of her suitcase, after returning home from Gram's house, to sleep with Bear.

My sister on the other hand still has her bear. He was also made by my mother and cut from a patterned material. She sewed him together and he got real stuffing. She carried him everywhere. And I mean everywhere. He would get dirty and my mother would throw him in the washer and dryer and Jennifer would wait right there until he was dry and the buzzer when off on the dryer and she would open the door and take him out. Then she would work hard to make him smell right again. While Jennifer sucked her thumb she would rub his nose and she eventually rubbed a hole in him. After that it was harder to wash. My mother searched everywhere to find another bear just like his. At that time I found out that when I was little I actually went through three Dollys. When one wore out she would replace it with another one. When Jennifer was 7 or 8 years old my mom found a Bear to replace hers at a yard sale. She brought it home and washed it and presented it to Jennifer. She seemed excited at first but when it came down to real snuggling Jennifer preferred the one with the hole in the nose. By now the hole went straight through the bear and you could put your arm through him, which Jenn would do and then swing him around and around her arm. I am not sure what happened to the new Bear, because he just wouldn't take the place of the old one.

Jennifer is now 34 years old and she still has the Bear. He is now shreds of material held together with threads. He no longer has any stuffing left and he resides in her pillowcase. So, yes, I believe she still sleeps with him. In her adult years she has moved along to a stuffed dog with a red ribbon collar but nothing compares to Bear. I think when we were young, I pretended to marry Jennifer and her Bear. I had no idea that the marriage would last this long.