The Story of “Boo”

When I was three years old, I had a treasured ragdoll. Her name was Raggedy Ann, and I thought she was truly my child. That raggedy daughter of mine did everything with me. She was, for all intent of purposes, my constant and favorite companion.

Then, suddenly, without warning one day, poor little Raggedy Ann fell into the toilet and drowned. Sure, my mother tried to revive her with ragdoll CPR. Yet, water stained and limp, my daughter’s life had come to a moist and soggy end.

I cried off and on for days about the loss of my darling young playmate. Yet, with time, the pain inside my heart eased and I was able to move on to new and more exciting friends.

If only it were so easy to recover from tragedy as an adult......

Over the years, I often thought about my beautiful friend whose life had come to such a tragic end. Yet, slowly, with time, even the memories faded and Raggedy Ann became a distant name from a long ago time.

Eventually, I had my own two daughters who both, not surprisingly, found themselves attached to various cuddly toys. For Hannah, her go-to friend was a little brown doggie whom she fondly named “Gimme’s doggie” after the grandmother who’d given it to her. Jordyn, on the other hand, discovered an undying attachment to a multi-colored pastel bear; a bear who lovingly became known to our family as “Boo.”

Now, Boo, I must admit, was truly much more to Jordyn than simply a snuggly toy. She was a playmate, a confidante, a sleeping companion, and a best friend. Boo slept, ate, and rode in the car with Jordyn. She went to school with her, and accompanied her to every doctor and dentist appointment she ever had. Boo lived beneath the crook of Jordyn’s tiny arm, and grew a very well-loved appearance from the many hours she spent being held tight.

Even now, at age nine years old, Jordyn spends a lot of loving hours with her little friend Boo. In fact, this past summer, Boo traveled with our family to Canada. For several nights, Boo enjoyed sleeping with Jordyn in a hotel bed in Toronto. There, she received the same love and care to which she was privy back home.

Yet, one fateful day, our family left that now infamous hotel room in search of further excitement in the town of Niagra Falls. That evening, as Jordyn lay in her new hotel bed, she innocently asked me, “Mommy? Where’s Boo?”

Suddenly, I felt my heart stop. For in that instant, I realized one horrible, tragic thing. I’d forgotten to pack Boo when I’d gathered all of our things together earlier that day in our Toronto hotel room.

With extreme sobs and tears, Jordyn mourned the emptiness she felt within her soul. “Boo!” she wailed, as I quickly grabbed the phone to call the building where we knew Boo had been so thoughtlessly abandoned.

I waited on hold for what felt like forever as the hotel desk attendant went in search of my missing stuffed grandchild. All the while, Jordyn was moaning, tears pouring down her sweet young face.

“Mrs. Vermont,” the woman eventually spoke into the phone. “I have good news! Your bear is here!”

With joy, we all celebrated the recovery of our multicolored loved one.

And, several days later, as we returned home to our house in Chesterfield, a package arrived from Canada.

Boo was once again in her rightful place.

Unfortunately, as my daughter hugged and kissed her long lost companion, I learned two incredible lessons.

First, it costs sixty-five dollars to Fed Ex a multicolored bear back from Canada!

And second, US customs likes to slice open worn out, well loved bears as they return from vacation.

But, a quick check and a few stitches fixed both problems, leaving my daughter happy and content once again.

As Jordyn and I have both painfully learned, the loss of one’s cuddly stuffed child can be quite devastating. Yet, sometimes, even loss can have a wonderful, albeit very expensive, happy ending!

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by Sharon Dunski Vermont