Bestest Friend Forevers

[lagilman]

It's hot. It is, in fact, Very Hot. Also, humid. Even the a/c going full blast is barely keeping pace, and I am feeling terribly unGreen and damaging to the environment in my battle to not become people-melt.

I have even canceled plans for this afternoon, because it is so hot. This, plus the fact that my writing brain hates the heat even more than the rest of me, is making me very cranky. And from the comments of other folk, many are feeling much the same. Be it heat, or environmental distress, or work-stress...

Clearly, we need something to cheer us up and make us feel better. And, thanks to desperance, I have decided what that thing will be.

Teddy Bears*!

Come on, guys, we know you've got one. Or two. Or five... share the huggy-love.


This is Teddy. He is worn and battered and one-eyed, but his tummy-squeaker still works, and when I am down or depressed or ill, he's the best cure. I've had him since I was 2, and in case of fire he's what I would grab at the same time as the security lockbox (the cats, being cats, would be out the door before me)



*or critter of your emotional preference

Comments

[mt-yvr.livejournal.com]

This is Boo. When I developed neuralgia in the left side of my jaw and head, and was reduced to wishing some one would just kill me, he came out of storage so to speak and did duty as the one soft, plush thing I could pet that would remind me not EVERYTHING in the world was pain.

He now sleeps with me.

I've got too many to count. They're my kids. :P

[autojim.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of the critters I need to retrieve from Dad's. Notably Sam the Dog, who is worn and threadbare to the point that the body covering my mom made for him is itself now more than 35 years old (Mom has been gone for 33 years and wasn't able to do fine work the last 3 years of her life).

Hmm... mission for next weekend, perhaps. And it will absolutely make my life better.

[irishkate.livejournal.com]

I will arrange photos later when I can, but I have one LARGE tiger, a frog, a moose, a bear, 2 librarians aka orang-utans, another bear, a rocking horse, a LARGE kangaroo and joey, my teddy bear (called Bobby), a dog, three rabbits (plush, I also have a pet rabbit), a library going bear and a small reindeer.

And sundry others in another less used room I can't quite call to mind...

[lagilman]

I have an entire mob of meerkats, me. For obvious reasons, people tend to gift me with them. Also, two owls (likewise gifted) and a bear --made of an old mink coat-- named Bailey, who is my heart's delight in an entirely different way from Teddy...

Oh. And an English sheepdog puppet named Rupert, who is lifelike enough that Mei-Chan tried to play with him. Those of you who've read HARD MAGIC may be giggling, now.

[irishkate.livejournal.com]

Ohh - I don't have an owl (or a meetkat but I have the pattern for one now so that will change)

With the tiger and the rabbits, the kanga and the bears (and in mum's house a piglet and a donkey - none but 1 official merchandise style stuff) I should have an owl. I have taken to calling the remaining thousands "rabbit's friends and relations"

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

The bears I think of aren't mine, but my husband's. He was deployed to Afghanistan about six years ago. Hope went with him, Faith the kids and I sent. Apparently quite a few of the infantrymen he met were jealous, because HE had something he could hug that had his wife's and children's voices saying "We love you."

He still sleeps with them from time to time. And if I thought I could get away with it, and could find the camera...

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

My wife has Littlefoot from The Land Before Time. She's had him for ages, although nowadays he's been commandeered by the girls.

[isabeau.livejournal.com]

I can't share photos because I don't have access to a camera D: My main comforter is Beary, who at this point has lost most of his fur and his bib (which used to have an apple on it) is seriously frayed and he looks nothing like he used to and I adore him to pieces because he kept the monsters away.

...I also sort of have a collection of stuffed animals -- about half bears, but also a pretty-much-life-sized snugglekitty, a penguin, a walrus, a monty python bunny, a dolphin, Tiki the monkey, two dinosaurs (triceratops and stegosaurus), a purple hippo, a purple bunny, and a few others I'm forgetting -- many of which have not told me their names yet.

There is also a bear named Jasper that I use as a pillow for my arm when I sleep. I wish I could take a picture because he is getting a little smushed from repeated arm pressure in the same location and it's kind of dorky looking :D But for what I need, bears work so much better than normal pillows, because of the legs thing and also having an arm that serves as a convenient thing to rest my hand on.

[anghara.livejournal.com]

I have an entire COLLECTION of critters.

But the oldest, the patriatch of them all, the one who rules the menagerie, is the bear I got for my birthday when I was a year old and who was then more or less the size of ME, if not a little bigger. He's a proper old-fashioned sawdust-filled solid-bodied teddy, who USED to be bright gold (you can still see the original glow of this if you turn to the underside of his ear) but is currently a shabby ashy brown where he isn't threadbare. His eyes have been glued back together at least once, and he wears a jazzy white velvet bow tie made out of a wide ribbon because there are places where his head is kind of trying to part company with the rest of him. But he's in pretty good darned shape for a teddy-bear who will turn 46 years old in a couple of weeks...

I should post a photo.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

T has a Honey Monster, which was a cartoon character from way back. My mother made me two things: a gumble, from Australian classic Gumbles and Bottersnikes, and a clanger, made out of an old sock. I retrieved these entities recently and brought them home.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

You have a gumble! I thought no one but me remembered Gumbles and Bottersnikes...

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

I still have a copy of G&B! Also, the Magic Pudding. And that's before we even start on the Moomins.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Mmm, Magic Pudding...

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

I have a stuffed VW Bug, with fenderwells no less. My Dad and stepmom worked for VW in the 60's and 70's.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Softly has been with me 48 years now; he is one day older than my baby sister, which I persist in thinking the smartest thing my parents ever did. The smartest thing I ever did was call him Softly (I was three).

I have lots of other stuffed companions, but Softly is the one who actually comes with me whenever and wherever I go (I do not trust the cats not to burn the house down in my absence). The icon shows him in Taipei, as arranged by the chambermaids (this happens a lot: I leave him in my hotel room, and come back to find him ... otherwise arranged).

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Also, he is more famous than I am. He has been discussed in gossip columns; he has also been hunted across London by a convicted IRA murderer. It's a wild life.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I have a rabbit. Yes, he is velveteen. Yes, he is VERY real.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

My venerable bears are camera shy, but this is Nele the Nelephant . He's ridiculously large and soft, and doubles as a napping pillow if you are very, very good.

Nelephant was knit for me by a good friend, a project that took her over a year. As befits a writer's familiar, he came complete with extensive backstory that we'd take turns adding on to. Since my friend moved away, he's become a bit of an avatar as well, taking her spot on the sofa when it's time to watch cheesy sci-fi.

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

Pounce, the tiger.
When I had health trauma 5-10 yrs ago, I had to be away from home in the hospital for about a week. Since I was used to sharing my pillow with my cat, my bestest human friend pulled this carnival-prize stuffed tiger out and said I could put him on my pillow, and in my drug-induced fog, wouldn't know it wasn't a real cat. He was wonderfully comforting. Sadly, I repaid his care by throwing up on him the first time I tried to eat real food. (Previously-mentioned bestest human friend proved her status by giving him a bath and returning him all clean and sanitized.) That was a bonding experience for me and Pounce, and we've been inseparable ever since.
He now shares pride-of-place with FAO, the "Italian" bear I bought my husband when we were long-distance dating, to be there with him when I couldn't be.