Beth over at Nutwood Junction wrote about her childhood stuffed animal and asked readers to comment on their own. As usual I'm too long-winded for my own good, so I figured I'd post it here.
Unlike Beth I don't think I have any pictures of the animals, at least in electronic format, so the text will have to do.
When I was in preschool we had a show and tell day where we were encouraged to bring in our teddy bears. I didn't have a bear. Instead I had three favorite animals: an elephant named, stereotypically, as Dumbo, a horse named Rusty, and a blue dog with floppy ears named Ralph. Ralph never really struck me as a dog. He was designed in a more-or-less seated posture, and I think he looked more like a Sesame Street monster than a canine.
Anyhow, of course the kids made fun of me for not having a bear. When my Mom picked me up I told her the story and we made a beeline for Toy Country, located up on 27th Street where Pet World is now.
I went up and down the aisle before deciding on my bear. From that moment on Fuzzy and I were inseparable.
He was small, with dark brown matted fur and tan paws. There was very little detail on him - a red stitch or two for lips and a simple nose. I do remember his eyes though. They were brown with a hint of orange, and one eye was always obscured by a stray bit of fur.
Later Scottie, a very simple dog made by my paternal Grandma from two pre-printed pieces of fabric, joined the group.
I always imagined Fuzzy as the leader of my little group of animals, a sort of Pooh-like world where Pooh actually had brains.
Where are they now? Rusty is in storage at my Mom's and Ralph should have been with him, but I didn't see him the last time I checked. Scottie is upstairs with the girls, Dumbo is MIA, and Fuzzy . . .
Well for a number of years he was lost, and rumor had it my Dad tossed him in a bag that was donated to charity. But a few years ago a bear looking suspiciously like Fuzzy resurfaced at their house and I snatched him up. He has many of the characteristics, right down to the eye, but he also has some traits I don't remember.
In the end whether he was the original or not is irrelevant; I say he is, so he is. The kids occasionally sleep with him now. I never do. Except, you know, when I have one of the kids sleep with usand the bear just happens to fall out of their arms and over to my side of the bed.
Accidentally of course.
