Prompt:  Write about a souvenir you have bought or received.

When I was a little girl (in age, not size), my Dad would go hunting every year in the fall (ya know, during deer/elk hunting season), usually to Colorado.  He would usually come back with little sudsy (small, thoughtful gifts is what we call sudsy) for my sister and I.

Jackalope*  banks, you know the ones with the fuzzy stuff on them that looks like hair, yes, I had one of those.  A baby blue mirror/comb combo with a fake suede pouch with my name on it in gold, oh yes.  A crate of Red Delicious apples that we’d never eat before they all go bad, yup.

But this one year he came back with one huge teddy bear.  One.  Unless my math is wrong, and I’ve taken off my shoes to count on my toes (in case my fingers lied to me), my sister and I equal two.  Her (1) and me (+1) equal 2.  He had one (1) bear.   Now, I have no idea how old I was at the time, so if I had to guestamate, I would say that I might have been 6 or 7, which would have made my sister 12 or 13.  This bear was HUGE!!  It was at least as tall as I was (at the time) and I instantly loved it.

So did my sister.  Now I’m not going to go into the gory details, but let’s just say that I have had the bear in my possession since I was 12 or 13.  We did a lot of back-and-forth with it (I’d steal it from her room, she would steal it from mine).  Since it was so big, it was hard to hide.  She thought she bested me once by hiding it in her closet on the top shelf, but I found it and made quick use of climbing on her shelves to get him.   I then stuffed socks with her clothes (from the closet) and put shoes on them and shoved it in the shelves to scare her (a la the Wicked Witch of the East).  She said it did, but I realize now that she was just saying that to be nice to me.

I still have the bear – he’s in my eldest son’s room.  His name is Boo-Boo Bear because I broke his neck too long ago to remember.  He’s still intact and whole, but his head rests on his chest, so you have to lift his head to have him look you in the eyes when you are having a chat with him.  He’s still a great listener and he keeps secrets really, really well.  I do think he gets a little cold at times since he’s only dressed in shorts (A&M ones I never returned to my cousin {sorry Amanda}) kinda like Pooh Bear.  Wait, that’s wrong.  Pooh is sans pants but has a shirt on. Well, I’ve protected Boo-Boo Bears modesty.  Even though I live in a house filled with boys.  Hummm…  Maybe I need to find a shirt for him too.  He’s in his 40’s now.  I’m sure he’d like a shirt to cover up his “Dad Body”.

I think my sister has forgiven me for stealing the bear so many times.  Maybe.  We don’t talk about Boo-Boo Bear.  Maybe it’s like Fight Club…If I talk about it, we have to fight.  Well, nuts!  She’s so going to kick my butt!  I should have kept quiet.

Y’all can keep a secret, right?

*I have to narc on myself, because what else could I say to make me look like a raving idiot?  Oh, this will do it.  I never knew that a Jackalope was not a real creature.  Honestly.  I just found out today when I was spellchecking the entry.  I was so shocked and dumbfounded that after I cried about it, I went over to my Mom and Dad’s to yell at them for destroying my childhood.  Yeah, they laughed at me.  My mom was laughing so much that I thought she was going to pee on herself and my dad pretty much said I was dumb as a basket of rocks.  Ya know, good times.  We all laughed at my stupidity and moved on.  Why am I admitting this to you?  I honestly don’t know.  I guess it’s because ultimately, it really is funny.  And I’m okay with sharing that if you are laughing with me, not at me.