Childhood friends & WHY EBAY ROCKS!!! (long story, but a happy ending...)

... ok, so Amy here (Ruby is down for her morning nap) and I was on the phone this morning with my good friend Karen ( Gwen was napping too... ) and we were chatting about her Gwen's little 'blue dog' that she loves & only has ONE of! I began to tell her about the JOYS of EBAY and she said she looked but couldn't find it... I then shared with Karen the story of 'William Bear' and how I wanted to find one 'just like him' for my Ruby. Now, Ruby has since obviously fallen in love with her good friend Bear, so right now this story is gonna seem silly but SOMEDAY she may fall for her updated version of MY childhood friend. Here's the story:

When I was about 11 years old, my mom took me to Marshalls one day & you know how kids are when they're dragged to go shopping, I did what any decent 11 year old kid would do, SEARCH OUT THE TOYS to at least make this mandatory time in a 'grown up store' BEARABLE! (no pun intended...)

I found a HUGE BIN FUL OF THESE ADORABLE BEARS! They were made by Gund (still one of my FAVORITE STUFFED ANIMAL BRANDS TO THIS DAY!) and I don't remember how much they were but they were all the SAME BEAR in this HUGE bin & this particular one kept looking at me & was begging me to take him home & love him. So after several " Aw, c'mon mom pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease" comments, Chip Chip came home with me. He was HANDS DOWN my favorite bear EVER...
(fast forward about 2 years...)

I'm 13 now, and Chip Chip comes with me EVERYWHERE... this particular time he found himself on a plane headed with me and my family to ITALY to visit relatives!
While there, my good friend William (Italian & 15 at the time & CUTE AS A BUTTON TO ME!) was admiring Chip Chip and said he had never had a bear so cute cuz they didn't have them that cute in Italy. (keep in mind I was diggin' William big time) so I let him play with Chip Chip and it just got more involved from there... by the time we were ready to leave a few weeks later, William was giving Chip Chip a bigger hug than he was giving me & my heart turned to mush & I asked William if he would like to KEEP Chip Chip? OMG HE WAS THRILLED! He said he would take good care of him & always remember me every night when he held him as he slept... so I hugged my beloved friend one last time & then hugged William as well & with tears in my eyes, I went back to my Zia's (aunt's) house to sleep one last night in Italy before flying home the next day. It was the LONGEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE! Sleeping without my fuzzy friend wrapped up in my arms was just the hardest thing I'd ever done to that point but I knew I did the right thing... first big lesson as a kid of 13, sometimes doing the right thing isn't always easy.

(fastforward a few months)

Mom and I go back to Marshalls for a shopping trip, I ONLY WENT because in my heart I just KNEW that they would HAVE TO HAVE another bin FULL of my FUZZY FRIEND! And even though the chances were slim, off to the 'grownup store' I went, purely out of desperation for a chance to find another one of my beloved night time companion. *fingers crossed wishing so loud in my head I started speaking out loud* " Please God let there be another Chip Chip... PLEASE !" " I'll make my bed every morning!, I'll eat all my broccoli! ... etc " (bargaining began, it wasn't pretty!)

We get there, Mom starts shopping (aka:browsing, a several hour event...) and I frantically search every last BIN in the store for my long lost friend who now lives in Cretone, Italy.

Bin after bin, nothing... finally, when I was just about to give up, there was one last bin I hadn't looked in and I thought, well I'll look but I know he's not there... followed by some whining of "Can we just go home nooooww Mom, pleeeeeease????"

I go over & peek inside and OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG CHIP CHIP'S HALF WAY UP THE BIN WALLS! I could barely reach in deep enough to get one but the first one I got my hands on was INSTANTLY MY NEW FRIEND!


Now, I knew it wasn't my original Chip Chip, he could never truly be replaced BUT this new little guy was still cute and I loved him already... so Mom said she'd get him & on the ride home I was thinking of what to call him, as I would be giving him a different name, his OWN name...

Then it occured to me, to always remember Chip Chip & where he is now, I named my new friend 'William Bear' after my good friend William and now Chip Chip's new 'Dad'...

So, William bear was ADOPTED and has been my night time SNUGGLE FRIEND EVER SINCE! YEP, THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS, YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST, I'M 33 AND I STILL SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL EVERY NIGHT WITHOUT FAIL! When I go to a friends house to spend the night, William goes too... =)


(it's faint but can you see that, 1981 on the tag? MAN I'M OLD!)

Now, he's been MUCH LOVED (as you can see) over these past 20 years and it shows but I wouldn't have it any other way! (he fits perfectly between my 'girls' if you know what I mean... any women out there bigger than a b cup UNDERSTANDS WHAT I'M TALKIN' BOUT!) hee hee that's one LUCKY BEAR! hehehe ;)

So, I knew I wanted to try to find Ruby her very own 'William Bear' and thought, UGH he's SO OLD I'll probably NEVER find him... but if I'm nothing else, I'm DETERMINED! So, I went to the gund site first, no luck, hit a few 'Marshall's stores', still no luck... then it dawned on me...
EBAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
for weeks I searched hoping to find a needle in a haystack...
... OUCH! What the hell was that I just sat on? OMG YOU'VE GOTTA BE FREAKIN' KIDDING ME!!! A NEEDLE?!!#@?%#%$^#$%^ WOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE YOU TO SAID "NEEDLE" from my childhood HAYSTACK:


I NEARLY SHIT MYSELF WHEN I FOUND HIM!!!!!!! Who the HELL WOULD BUY HIM & KEEP HIM IN THIS PRISTINE CONDITION ALL THESE YEARS??????#$% WHO CARES?$%#$%$ HE'S MINE!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, he's Ruby's now, but truth be told, she has yet to look twice at him because there is only ONE BEAR in her life currently... and who knows, maybe she'll never fall in love with him, maybe she'll ALWAYS ONLY love BEAR, but either way, this newest bear is here to stay & if she doesn't want him, I know of a perfect spot for this little guy every night. =) He'll just have to share with William that's all! ;) (with aging comes GRAVITY and NOT in the good perky way, if you know what I'm sayin!!!) A 'Backup Bear' ISN'T A BAD IDEA! hehehehe


So Karen, PLEASE LET ME FIND YOUR NEEDLE IN YOUR BLUE DOG HAYSTACK!!!!! =)

I'm up for the challenge girlie! LET'S DO THIS! =)

-Amy

PS. Give your precious P.B. a hug for me & let him know that his Momma isn't the only silly adult who STILL loves her childhood friend, regardless of everything (*grin*) they've been through over these many many MANY years! (Yes Karen, we're OLD! ) ;)