Stuffed Animals (Kids Best Friends)

Today as I watched Dorothy sing as part of the Tabernacle Choir and the spoken word, I noticed sitting next to me was Sarah's best friend and playmate, Cordoroy. Cordoroy is her little brown stuffed bear that she has had since she was a baby. She sleeps with it as a pillow, she carries it from room to room even at age 13 (almost 14). In fact she places her (she calls Cordoroy a girl) on the back of the couch looking out the window whenever she leaves the house for school, church or play. Then upon her return Cordoroy can see her coming in the house. So this morning as I sat on the couch and saw her dear friend proped up watching the broadcast with me, I started to reflect on the comfort and love that these little stuffed animals give our children. Each one of my kids have had a animal that they have named and called their own. Amanda, at age 18, still travels back and forth from college with her stuffed lion "Simba". Simba has had to be washed various times to rid it of the odors that collect over the years. She loves Simba as Sarah loves Cordoroy. Taylor also had a favorite animal that was a dog bought at Eddie Bauers, thus the name Eddie. He loved Eddie and just like the other kids, Eddie went everywhere with him. Unfortunately, we believe that Eddie ended up, accidentally, in a DI pile of stuffed animals and Taylor our 16 year old only has the memories of Eddie, unlike his sisters. Now Anna, our last child also has her favorite stuffed animal. It is a big black dog she calls Blackie. Just like the other kids, she can not go anywhere without it. Blackie has even traveled to the Oregon coast and Hawaii with his good friend Cordoroy. I love these animals and they bring such good memories to me and my family. I only wish we could some how find another Eddie as a keep sake for Taylor.

When I was a college student at BYU, we had a girl in our ward that had a bear that was just like the stuffed animal of my kids. She had had it since she was a baby and it was ragged and beat up but she had it with her at college. One weekend she went home and left her stuffed bear in the appartment. One of my roomates that was studing to be a doctor decided to take the bear an put it in a body cast with IV's. When she returned from home there was an note for her that her bear was sad that she had left him and he went looking for her. Unfortunately he was hit by a car crossing the street. So she needed to be prepared for what she was to see upon entering her appartment. There was her poor bear with a body cast from mid chest to both feet with a spreader bar between the legs. In his arm was a needle with an IV bottle hanging from a pole. It was quite a site and caused us all to laugh so hard. It was not quite as funny to her but in the end it was a great memory.