For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for August 15, 2023

SUPER TEDDY

Are you chucking Monopoly?

I’m with Michael. I’d KEEP my best friend from childhood and take him with me to college.

I could relate. I’m 55 and I still have my first stuffed animal, a turtle. I’ve had it for 54 years (I’ve seen pictures of me in a crib with the turtle).

Packing for my last move a couple years ago, I finally chucked my teddy.

You’re never too old for that, Michael.

Oof, I remember my first stuffie; he was around before I even existed, but I put the poor thing through so much hell and he fell into such disrepair that my mother stopped fixing him, and I gave him a a little funeral in my backyard before burying him :(

My daughter will be packing for college within the week. Two things she’s definitely bringing with her are her 2 favorite stuffies. One is a tiny white bear that her sister picked for her when she was about 3 months old. The other is a huge yellow dog she received from “Officer Friendly” at her daycare (all of the kids got a stuffie, but most of them got normal-sized ones, about the size of a Build-a-Bear; Yellow was bigger than her!) The dog is so soft that she now uses it as an extra blanket.

I’m 76 and I still have my “Theodore Edward Bear”. Ted E. Bear for short. He lays ion the head board right above my head. At his age he’s kind of delicate.

Why does Michael name all of his stuff Chuck?

I think stuffed animal retention is an indicator of a person’s future attachments to people, and may be affected by frequent separations. I remember living in 15 houses and attending 10 schools between ages 4 and 21. My brothers and I rarely think to say goodbye to friends when we go away. Mostly we assume we won’t be missed and we will forget our old friends soon.

When I moved from California to Arizona all my possessions fit into a medium box of clothes, a medium toolbox, and a small box of everything else. The small box included my one prized possession: a 10 year old plastic drinking glass with “M” on the bottom in nail polish to mark it as mine.

Because I moved a lot as a kid, my favorite toy was my teddy bear. When I became a dad, I passed it onto my oldest (step) daughter. She rejected him. So I passed him onto my youngest daughter (have a son in between). She has it in her room to this day.

If you can buy 2 of the same stuffed bears, keep switching every other week so they smell the same and you’ll hopefully be covered if one gets lost.

A stuffed animal at his age, I highly doubt it.

Memories

Light the corners of my mind

Misty watercolor memories

Of the way we were

Scattered pictures

Of the fun we left behind

Smiles we gave to one another

For the way we were

Can it be that it was all so simple then?

Or has time re-written every line?

If we had the chance to do it all again

Tell me, would we?

Could we?

Memories

May be beautiful and yet

What’s too painful to remember

We simply to choose to forget

So it’s the laughter

We will remember

Whenever we remember

The way we were

The way we were

Wouldn’t recommend it Mike.

A year from now, Michael will shave that bear, put suction cups on all its limbs and re-name it Ned.

Yes, Michael, that stuffed bear will keep you from too much homesickness.

I had a stuffed mouse. Not sure what happened to it.

Yep… I still have my first Teddy Bear… it sits my first little rocking chair in my home office…

It’s hard to give up some of our stuffed friends but easy to leave the stuff shirts behind.

Did that teddy belong to Radar O’ Reilly?

I still have the Teddy that I was profoundly attached to the day I was adopted. Precious and sacred to me, still. It’s the only thing that has been in my life without fail or question, except The Queen of England up until recently…

Good thing Michael is not going to the Citadel or VMI. The toy would be confiscated upon arrival and he would be subject to ridicule.

Awwwwwww

I had few toys as a child, and my prize possession was a small teddy. A cousin had the same one. He lost his – so he took mine. I was told I was wrong, but mine had a small bit of damage, and I knew the difference. My mom believed me but gave in and let my cousin have it to keep the peace. It was not replaced by another toy for me. I was maybe 3 years old. I remember crying for months. I do still have my baby blanket and am unsure what to do with it.

I was a deprived (not depraved) child never having had a Teddy Bear. Maybe that’s why I would jump up and down on my sisters dolls and yell “Cry!” ;-p

I have my sheepskin dog about 5" long, one ear missing all fuzz. I’m 75 :)

Aww, I had my stuffed dog I got on my second bdy until my husband threw it out. I left him a few years later.

It is a sad thing to see a child’s stuffed teddy bear sitting on top of the trash can waiting to be disposed of.

So sweet! I personally never slept with stuffed animals growing up (I roll around a lot at night, and most of the stuffed animals I had as a kid were small, so I was worried that too many would fall out). On my nineteenth birthday, my parents took me to Build-A-Bear just to look (I still liked seeing how cute the bears and their clothes were). I found a bear and absolutely fell in love with her. She’s been by my side every night for the past six and a half years.

My granddaughter is autistic. I bought her a “build-a-bear” dressed as her favorite cartoon character when she was 4 and her mom says it is one of her prized possessions.

What happened to Teddy’s cute little bear tail? Was there a tail transplant story we missed?

You think Hobbes read this strip today?

I still have my teddy bear 44 years later…

I still have my first slide rule – but that’s just me, I guess. :)

:-3

I was in my 20s when Dad gave me a stuffed Garfield; a few years after he passed, Mom gave me a cloth doll. They sit next to each other across from my recliner and bring a smile every day. I’m 74 now.

I bought a Pooh Bear for my youngest daughter who stole her sister’s bear. She never took the Pooh Bear and kept her sisters bear. So I saved the bear and when I got my dog, I gave it to him. He never tore it or bit it to pieces he loved to lay on its neck when he slept. I have it in a plastic bag never to be used again. I see it now and then and brings warm memories to me.

I sewed a toy seal for a school project. Got an A+ for it. Mom gave it away when I left home. Wish I still had Jeff.

In “Toy Story 3”, Andy, about to leave for college, was going to keep Woody, but then let him go, giving Woody and a few other favories to a young little girl who would appreciate them. Very good three movies, ending with compassion and maturity.

I wonder if this ispired “Toy Story 3”

I’ve had a wife for 43+ years but, sometimes not very cuddlable.

"Let’s go in the garden

You’ll find something waiting

Right there where you left it lying upside down

When you finally find it, you’ll see how it’s faded

The underside is lighter when you turn it around

Everything stays right where you left it

Everything stays

But it still changes

Ever so slightly, daily and nightly

In little ways, when everything stays.

Go down to the ocean

The crystal tide is raising

Waters’ gotten higher as the shore washes out

Keep your eyes wide open, even when the sun is blazin’

The moon controls the tide, it can cause you to drown

Everything stays, right where you’ve left it

Everything stays, but it still changes

Ever so slightly, daily and nightly

In little ways

When everything stays."

Everything Stays(Rebecca Sugar, Olivia Olson; Adventure Time)

65yo…the name is Teddy. When I was 2yo I thought he was a dog. He is on my bookshelf right now. As a child, I made him a red double-breasted corduroy vest with brass buttons, a watch-pocket/watch/and fob, a plaid bowtie, and a snazzy eye-patch when he lost an eye in the Sibling Wars. He is the Sean Connery of teddy bears.