bye bye bear bear

back in the bad old days when kaye was pregnant, she started receiving gifts for the baby-to-be. at a family baby shower in new jersey, she was given a cute musical bear by one of her cousins. after t.willie was born, the bear hung from a spot on his bassinet where he could see it and hear it's music. the bear eventually moved into t.w's crib and he grew to love it more than any of his other toys. whenever t.w went to sleep, he made sure the bear was tucked under his arm. of course, as all favorite bears do, this bear was given a name- "bear bear." real original, i know!

as t.w grew, bear bear became more and more a part of his life. bear bear was dragged around when t.willie learned to crawl. bear bear spent time in the car whenever we went somewhere, once or twice being dropped in the driveway on our way out. he traveled to great granma's (g.g's), spent much time riding around in a cart at wal-mart and went just about anywhere t.w went. oh, there were a couple harried trips to the emergency room and also a trip in an ambulance...exciting!!

lucky bear bear even accompanied the entire family on two trips to the jersey shore. he enjoyed the sights and sounds of the beach and eating at the local pizza joint. what a full and interesting life bear bear has had. through it all, he has been a fierce and loyal pal to t.willie.

( i know what you're thinking...don't judge!)

but, alas, two and a half years of intense loving by a child had left bear bear tired and haggard. at the point where i realized that t.w might possibly pull out one of the bear's eyes and choke on it, bear bear underwent some extreme eye surgery. yes, an eye-ectomy was performed and the empty sockets were stitched up. and all the many trips through the washer and dryer finally took a toll on his vocal chords; the music stopped.

so, recently, when i was taking the ole bear out of the dryer once more, i thought he was looking quite done in. t.willie had taken to sleeping with a plush white hand-me-down cat he was given by one of his cousins. sometimes not even noticing if bear bear was in his crib at all. yes, it seemed time that bear bear retired and moved on to his final resting place.

however, when t.willie noticed that the bear did not come back in with the laundry, he did ask about him. i told a wee little fib and said that poor old bear bear had fallen apart in the dryer. t.w said, "gammie fix him?" and, oh, gammie was tempted but knew that the kid had lots of other creatures to sleep with and that he was pretty much done with the bear. so i held fast and just said that he was too far gone and had been thrown out with the trash. harsh, i know, but really, t.w didn't seem too upset. now, a week or so later, he has stopped looking for him whenever i bring a load of wash in.

so, this, dear friends, is good bye for ole bear bear. he was a great and loving companion. he will be missed.


(you may notice, bear bear is covered in the purple fuzz dryer lint blankie)
bear bear
october 2007-march 2010

grateful for:
1. computer photo editing programs
2. bird song
3. babies and their loveys