Teddy

See, it isn't the object itself, it's the memory behind the obect. The things are fiscally worthless, but the memories are priceless. Let's start with the teddy bears. As everyone knows, teddy bears were named after Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt after he rescued a baby bear. But, each one of my teddy bears, or shall I say, stuffed animals, has a story. Let's go from biggest to smallest. The first stuffed animal is a yellow stuffed lion with a mame, white nose, whiskers, two arms (one of which had to be sewed back on), four white paws, and a white stomach. I'm a Leo so I relate to the lion. But, back to the stor of why it's important. Probably a $60 lion. But, I had a girlfriend whose lion it was and I had to move back in with my parents since I ran out of money. Lots of crying. But, before I left, I asked if I could have her stuffed lion and she let me. I always remember her when I look at that stuffed lion.

Then, there's Benji. Benji is an off-white bear with black eyes, a white nose, and a red bow-tie. He also came from the same girlfriend the second time we had to seperate against our will. She wound up moving to an Extended Stay and then back to her parents. But, she gave me a second bear.

Then, there's Hommy. Hommy or Hommy's duplicate is a weird story. See, when I was young, my parents and an aunt and uncle got along. And the aunt was very into teddy bears. So, she gave me and my sister two teddy bears and we fought over one of them, which I got since I was the younger one. I kept that teddy bear and always thought of my aunt when I held him. Then, he got lost during a move, which I was upset about, but my parents found another Hommy online, which still needs more sewing. But, my parents got me a dog when I was younger which I named, Mr. Hommy Offenhartz, Jr. Which means the first Hommy was Mr. Hommy Offenhartz, Sr. The Jr. died after a long life and I cried when we had him put to sleep. But, when I see the replacement Hommy, I think of my aunt, my dog, and my parents.  I still have Hommy Jr.'s ashes, which I should bury somewhere, sometime.  Lily Dale pet cemetary is full. Have to find somewhere else.  

Then, there's Shmata. Shmata is Yiddish for rag, but this Shmata isn't a rag. See, I had a boyfriend at the time (I'm bisexual) and he said he wanted a toy for a young person, so I got him this teddy bear at a store on Walnut Street. But, it turns out John didn't want this toy. He wanted a toy that made loud sounds and would annoy his parents. So, instead of returning this stuffed animal, I've kept him. I often put him under my head in order to elevate. He's been a good bear over the years. I'm glad I got him instead of John.

Leo (Little Leo) was a gift from one of my ex-fiances before she broke up with me. We haven't talked in years and the break-up was ugly. But, she said I could e-mail her if I wanted and even though she wouldn't necessarily reply, she'd still read them.  

Pita was a small stuffed animal Kristen got in the mail with her acceptance into a school. She didn't complete her studies and never wanted the small bear, so I took him. Pita stands for Pain in the ass. He gets lost a lot since he's small which is a pain in the ass.

Ann. This is a small, brown bear. See, at one place I was living I had a friend who couldn't have kids, so she kept buying small stuffed animals she loved at shops. Her case manager wasn't happy about this and thought she should spend her money are more important things. But, when I saw her last, Ann gave me this small dark brown bear which I named Ann, after the woman who gave him to me. I don't know if Ann is still alive, but I still have the teddy bear.

That's it for the stuffed animals, so let's go on.  

I was in the woodcarving club at The Palms in Port St. Lucie, West. See, Don Milenbrook started this club, since he loved woodcarving, but there is more to this story. I have every woodcarving I made from his woodcarving workshops. Everyone started with a sweet potato. On the sweet potato (raw), we learned the push cut, the pull cut, and the stop cut. These are like the alphabet for woodcarving. I don't know where my sweet potato went, but I can always carve another one. We carved soldiers, navy men, air men, turtles, horses, and other creatures. I learned life lessons, which I remember when I look at the carvings. Things like, “Small cuts, small mistakes. Big cuts, big mistakes.” “Measure twice, cut once”. “Follow the instructions. That's why they're there.”  

We also had friendly debates among our members. Things like petroleum. See, I thought there was plenty of petroleum in the world and the reason why gas is so high, is there's a limited amount of refinaries. But, Donny explained oil is a finite source, so if there were more refineries, the oil would just be gone sooner. What two words are the key to a good marriage: “Yes, dear”. He explained he had diabetes and even though he wasn't a vet, he enjoyed learning about vets and studying their history. His friend (the one he argued with all the time), like Fox, and told us we should watch the shows he watched. This man also told us ISIS stands for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.  Donny told us a story once: “A guy goes into a hotel and he asks if he can look at some of the rooms. The manager says he can, but he'll need to leave $100.00 with the manager, which he does. The manager lets the man look at the room and thinks, 'This is great. Now I can pay off the butcher.' So, he goes and pays off the butcher. The butcher says, 'This is great. Now I can pay off my maid' and he does. The main goes, 'This is great, now I can pay my hotel bill' and she gives the money to the hotel manager. The tourist comes back down and says, 'Nah. This place doesn't look good. I think I'm going to keep looking.' and takes his $100 and leaves. Now, nothing has happened. No money has been transferred, but everyone's debt is paid off.” I'm still unsure of the moral of this story or if it was just for laughs. He was also one of he only people in my life to tell me he was proud of me, which no one had done in a long time. That's what we all want. To be proud of. He died later that year, but his wife let me come to his hospice bed and talk to him. I went to his funeral, too. I hope my funeral, someday, will be as beautiful as his.