Bonzer Words!: Teddies (Or The Velveteen Rabbit Re-Visited)
"Both my daughters were avid soft toy collectors and had a large and motley assortment of soft toys that, until last week, crammed their rationed personal space to the exclusion of many valuables. These were known collectively as 'teddies' and assigned names and personalities,'' writes Heather Stone.
I don't remember having a teddy. This makes me feel rather sad. In fact the first memory I have of a teddy invasion into my life was during one of our hand-to-mouth periods in Tassie when Jessica had just turned five. The gifts were modest and few but her biggest surprise came later in the day when the frost melted and she went to play outside. Lying on the lawn, arms and legs upraised, in all his slightly shabby splendour, lay a big yellow pre-loved teddy bear.
Tin Ton he was named and Tin Ton he has remained. Jessa is now 23, has moved around Australia from Hobart to Darwin and back again and a now very threadbare bear still remains among her valued possessions.
Both my daughters were avid soft toy collectors and had a large and motley assortment of soft toys that, until last week, crammed their rationed personal space to the exclusion of many valuables. These were known collectively as 'teddies' and assigned names and personalities.
During the bad bushfires in NSW in 1993, as the fires raged beyond human control throughout the hills, our street was next in line for evacuation. We carried out the usual precautions of soaking lawn, shrubs and buildings, filling the gutters with water and packing essentials, documents and memorabilia into the car. The girls were told they could fill one clothes basket with irreplaceable possessions. When the time came to load their basket we discovered not one single item of clothing; neither a picture, a book nor a piece of jewellery. Instead we confronted a teetering mountain of soft toys … their whole teddy collection.
The other unforgettable teddy, still a part of our lives, belongs to my youngest daughter, Danielle. His origins are lost in the mists of memory but I do recall the sad fate he suffered when Jessa used him as a scapegoat following an altercation between the sisters. He lost an ear, eye, nose and an arm in the affray. Following the tears and the punishment, the bear was assigned an invalid role and loved even more than before. Sad Bear became his given name.
Many years and much travelling later a nominal 'auntie' secretly stole Sad Bear away and returned him with gift wrapped fanfare on Danielle's birthday. 'Sad Bear, where have you been?' she exclaimed, and then, as she registered the two-eyed, two-armed, able-bodied bear looking back at her with a wide teddy grin, her face slowly crumpled. She was inconsolable. It wasn't her Sad Bear any more. Only after we—feeling like killers—went to considerable trouble to dismember her poor teddy once again, was peace and harmony restored to our little household.
A recent visit to a daughter who shall remain anonymous brought memories flooding back when she downsized and 'threw out' a huge box of her teddies. I was aghast and as I departed I secretly retrieved them and am presently finding them a new home under my very own bed.
© Heather Stone
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Heather writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
