For my own remembrance

I was cleaning out and packing up my cedar chest and was amazed but some items that I knew must of had some sentimental significance to me but for the life of me I couldn't remember anything about the item.  It bothered me that my memory has failed me.  It also spurred me into documenting why other things in my cedar chest were worth keeping. 

When my girls woke up and came in my room and saw all these treasures on my bed they were amazed and wanted to touch everything.    Emily noticed a couple of stuffed animals and inquired if they were indeed my stuffed animals.  She gave me this look like mom's don't have stuffed animals. So I let her hold them and told her why they were in a special place and why I had kept them all these years.

The first is the elephant named "Ellie".  When I was 3 I went into the hospital to have my Achilles Tendon lengthened.   I don't know where I got this elephant but I remember waking up in the middle of the night and being alone and scared and having it there to hug comforted me.  (My mom has since told me that back in those days they didn't allow parents to stay the night with their children).   

Down the hall from my room at Primary Children's Hospital they had a game/library room.  On one of the days I was hospitalized Cookie Monster came to visit the kids on our floor in that room.  He was huge and covered with blue fur and nice as can be.  That was where my obsession for the monster came from.    As I watched Sesame Street I always felt a kinship to him since both of our names started with "C".  One time I all alone sitting at my kitchen table with a bowl of pudding.  I decided to eat it just like cookie monster would and I made a big mess all over my face and clothes.   Boy was my mom not too happy finding me in that situation. 

So in case my memory continues to fail me at least my kids will know why a  grown woman  always kept these two stuffed animals.