Carly's Ramblings Blog - Style

Show And Tell

30 Day Blogging Challenge

PROMPT January 18th
It’s Show and Tell Day here at the 30DBC! Think of an item that is special to you (it may help if you are able to see your chosen item while you write your entry). Describe it in as much detail as possible. Then, tell us its story. How did it come to be in your life and what makes it important to you?

An item that is special to me.... it is a teddy bear. Soft and cuddly with hair the colour of a Chai latte. He has a sewn on little black nose and brown button eyes.

I bought this little guy with my very own money. I was twelve and my mother and I were coming back from our first extended trip. A bus tour of the New England states. It had been a lovely trip. Lake Placid several years after the Winter Olympics there, Boston, Cape Cod. I tasted my first New England Clam Chowder there and have loved it ever since.

I bought my bear at the duty free shop on the way home. My first big purchase. I was so pleased with my choice. That memory of feeling stays with me. That little bear has a place of honour on my bed each night even now.... and I just turned 53. He'll be 41 in the summer. Four decades. It is not the oldest thing in my room. I also have a stuffed monkey that also takes a prime spot on my bed. It is a gift from my step -Grandfather's sister-in-law.I called her Auntie Betty, but she was not a relation of mine. She got it on one of her travels. I can't recall where, but I admired it ever time I went to visit her. I would say it is at least as old as I am, if not older. One of the last times I saw her she gave it to me. That monkey, with its hard head and painted sleeping face, its stuffed hands tucked under its chin and its zipper pouch in its back (for pajamas, I think) reminds me of that dear woman. Her kindness to me. Her wonderful stories of exotic travels. We were not really related, but I loved going to see her each time I went to Timinis and I think she appreciated my goodness. I don't think she had had any children of her own, but she had been a teacher; a grade 5 teacher and I thought she was amazing. I don't think she had much family left.