I’ll buy that.
There something else about that whole Webkinz debacle that I didn’t mention in my last post.
(Because who would have kept reading as long as it was anyway?)
Little does London know – and never needs to know I guess –
that at that moment in that overly-lit store, I would have purchased that kid nearly anything she asked for.
Seriously.
And here’s why.
London, my own ever-changing seven-year-old mini-me, held the orange and black stuffed alley cat of her choice up to me
and said, “Look, I have to choose this one – her eyebrows look sad and I think if she comes home with me I can make her eyebrows look happy.”
Which maybe doesn’t explain much.
But wait.
I thought the same thing too.
About twenty-eight years ago.
I remember it specifically – at a Hallmark store in my hometown of Rocky Mount, Virginia.
With my mom.
His name was Boo Boo Bear.
A panda with a bandage around his arm and a tear in his plastic eye.
I told my mom I was sure I could make that tear go away.
I was sure I could make that panda happy.
If he could just come live at my house with me.
And I believed it too.
Just like London does.
I know.
Because that evening as I was tucking her in, she held up the alley cat, now named Sugar and wrapped lovingly in a yellow blanket, and presented the stuffed creature to me.
“See, Momma. I can already tell she’s changing. Her eyebrows are looking happier.”
It makes me sigh.
It hurts my heart,
but in a mostly good way,
to be blessed to remember like this.
To remember my mom
and the Hallmark store
and Boo Boo Bear
and a plastic tear
that I believed my love could erase.
To see the undeniable connection
between
me
and
this kid
I call my daughter.
3 Comments
Rachel
That's so sweet! I had a Boo Boo Puppy—looked like a little sad hound dog. So cute!
Gretchen
Oh, it is such a thing called LOVE! And I LOVED this post. Now I will wipe my tears too! 🙂
alece
ohhhhhh this is just too sweet!