Toby and Rosie

Meet Toby and Rosie. Why do I have two bears that are exactly the same you ask? One is MiniMe's and one is mine.

Let me explain why a grown woman has a teddy bear (am I alone, really?). When I was 15, my mom and I got matching butterfly necklaces. Hers is gold and mine is silver. When we'd have a disagreement, one of us would wear the necklace (or maybe both of us) as an unspoken symbol that we still loved one another despite our disagreement or frustration with each other. When words were difficult to say, the symbol carried us through until forgiveness could follow. At that time in my life, we didn't live physically near eachother so it also was a symbol of our missing one another. We called it the Butterfly Club and we were the only members. Sadly, my mom passed away when I was 16. She is buried with her necklace and I still wear mine on occassion.

MiniMe is only eight and we don't have many disagreements at this point in her life. Perhaps we will always be close and never feel distant through those teen years, that is my hope. We wanted to get something that we could share like my mom and I did but we wanted it to be unique. We carefully chose these Rilakkuma bears. They have a zipper in back where we've left eachother little love notes. Most recently MiniMe was upset about an event in her life and left me a note to tell me she wanted to talk about it.

When I travel and have to spend time away from her, we have Toby (mine) and Rosie (MiniMe's) to snuggle with and leave eachother little notes. I imagine that one day when she goes to college, I will have myself a good long cry while I embrace my sweet Toby.

I couldn't entirely leave MiniMe out of the Butterfly Club though. Interestingly, we seem to encounter butterflies in our life quite often. And each and every time I smile because I miss her too.