Good-Bye Old Friends

As you may have read on my dad's blog, over the past 35 years, through 6 moves, my mother had saved my childhood stuffed animals for me. They even made it through the last move, when my dad hired the dumpster that sat outside their home, and was filled and emptied frequently. The baking sheets didn't even make it through that move.

But through whatever threats were made, the stuffed animals were moved again. This week-end, as my dad pulled them out of their vacuum sealed packaging, he begged me to take them off of his hands.

Even though they wouldn't fit in my suit case, I decided that these toys needed to go. Though still fun to look at, they smelled like they were full of toxic mold. My skin itched from them being in the same vicinity as me. I don't even think our dogs would see fit to tear their little heads of. A funeral was definitely in order. We talked briefly about each animal and their original names, Bunny, Monkey, Turtle, Squirrel and Wormy. I'm pretty sure my mother named them all. After all, such the bright, talented, cute, genius of a kid that I was, I could surely have come up with something better than Bunny, like Ethel, Hoppy, or even Peter.

Now whenever I feel the need to be nostalgic, I can watch the funeral video, which will be available for the rest of our lives on this thing called the internet.