How to Preserve your Little One’s Huggy

Does anyone else have a little guy who reads the safety manual on planes?  I am white-knuckled superstitious about airplane travel (yes, I’m a scaredy cat flier) and I can barely look at that pamphlet without getting shaky. Not my guys.  They ‘read’ it. They wonder about it. And they ask questions.
“When a plane lands on water how do the slides open?”
They pop out.  Everything just magically pops out. But we aren’t landing on water.  Not today.
“Oh but Daddy (yes, after the first scary question, I directed all safety related talk to daddy) if we land on water it will be the saddest!  I’ll never see Bobo again.”  (One of my little guys  took to heart the fact that NO belongings get to come with you in a water landing.)

I’ve been worrying about the day we might lose Bobo for a long time.  This stuffy is more than a toy, he’s a friend.  And he’s been such a big part of our life.  If we were to lose him now it would be devastating.  He doesn’t come everywhere, (our rule is that huggies need to stay home on daily adventures) but he’s been on all our big adventures.
Camping.

Traveling the World.

And providing comfort on airplane trips.

What if one day this huggy gets lost? What happens if he rips apart or gets something spilled on him that I can’t get out.  So far we’ve been lucky at remembering him and taking care of him, but I get a bit of a punched-in-the-gut feeling just thinking about the potential grief.  I know it’s our memories that count but what if the unthinkable happens to our huggy?

I took a picture of each boys’ huggy and framed them so we can keep their memories forever and the boys have this picture on their dresser between their beds.  As their friends get worn and ragged, we can remember them and how they used to be.  And if we lose them, we can think about them and know they were important.  There is a small part of me that’s hoping that these sweet toys are outgrown long before they fall apart or get lost.  And I’m crossing all my fingers and sending all my wishes out there for a Velveteen rabbit ending for these dear playmates who have comforted, played with, shared secrets and made adventures with my guys since birth.

(PS: How does this happen?  How on earth do we ended up loving a thing so much?  I can only imagine how we’d feel about a real pet?  And I guess this is a way of learning to deal with one day losing people we love.)

Terumi

Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys.  She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live.  She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)