My buddy

When I was pregnant with Harrison, I worked in the Child Watch Center at the YMCA a few mornings a week. It was a good way for me to get out, for Holden to play with kids and to earn some extra cash. On my last day at work there, my co-workers threw me a surprise baby shower. I honestly don't remember much about the gifts I got except for one. One of the women there made a small "lovie" blanket for Harrison. It was made of two layers of soft cotton material with a solid blue back and teddy bears on the front and trimmed in satin. I had no idea at that time how much that gift would mean to my little guy.


Harrison never did take a pacifier like my other children. He just wouldn't have it no matter how hard we tried. He finally found his fingers and was able to comfort himself. As he grew older, I began placing the blanket in the crib with him and it became what he grabbed for when he went to sleep. As he began to talk, he started calling it his buddy. No one is sure why.


When Harrison began walking he would drag buddy with him wherever he went. To this day there aren't very many places that Buddy doesn't go. Over the years, Buddy has been loved so much that we have had to mend holes and then when the holes began to be too big to repair we had to sew a new backing on him.


Lately, buddy has been looking a little ragged. I would snip a thread here and there but by the next day there would be more threads. Pretty soon I noticed that the whole top of the teddy bear material on the front of buddy was missing and the bottom part was hanging on by just a few threads.


Now a lot of moms (and dads) would have tried to put buddy to rest. And as a matter of fact, that has been suggested in our house by Dad. But, I can totally relate to Harrison since I myself had a pillow until I was, well lets just say much to old to have one.


So one afternoon last week, I pulled out the sewing machine to make the needed repairs. Harrison didn't want to give Buddy up for even a few minutes but I convinced him that it would be a quick fix and then he could have him back. So Harrison pulled up a chair next to me and told me that he just wanted to rub Buddy while I was sewing. Which would have been okay had he not been pulling and rubbing. So I explained that it would go much faster if he would just watch. As he sat there watching, he was telling Buddy that it was okay, it would be over in just a few minutes. He looked up at me just as serious as he could be and said that Buddy didn't like needles and he was helping him not to be scared.

It will be a sad day for me when Buddy is no longer needed. To me, it will mean that Harrison is growing up. He will no longer sit curled up in the chair with Buddy tucked under his chin. There will be no more "I love Buddy SOOOOO much." And there will be no more bedtime searches for a lost Buddy. When that day comes, I will tuck Buddy away in a special place so that one day when I am old and Harrison has grown up and moved away, I will be able to pull him out and remember those special childhood days.