Did you know I still have the teddy bear given to me as a newborn in Long Beach, California, more than eighty years ago?
It was obviously created before I got it, so Teddy is actually older than I am.
Somehow, through all the twists and turns of my crazy life, I have managed to hold on to him. Over these many, many years I have lost so much of the possessions I once valued, but not Teddy. He is now my most valued possession in life.
Today Teddy occupies a spot on my bed on the floor in this old apartment complex in Biloxi, Mississippi. Every night I cuddle with him and fall asleep with my arm around him.
That may sound simple, but to me it means something deep.
Teddy has quietly survived everything with me. Long Beach. The years in between. The moves, the changes, the losses, and all the different versions of my life. So many things are gone now, but Teddy is still here.
What makes him precious is not money, rarity, or age. What makes him precious is continuity. He connects the man I am today with the newborn I once was. After more than eighty years, he is still doing what he was given to do in the first place: bringing comfort.
In a life where so much can be lost, I find it remarkable that Teddy stayed.
And I am very glad he did.
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