bear returns

Continued from: Simply Bear

The Momma checked her email and checked her email again and again to track the precious box that was being shipped across the country. Finally, the tracking site said that the package was delivered.

The Momma eagerly walked down to the mailbox and unlocked the small door. The box sat there in all it's freezing splendor. It was shoebox size and the Momma instantly imagined the two brother bears tumbling about inside together. The package was light and she quickly carried the box back down the street.

At home she sequestered herself in her bedroom and locked the door. She quickly opened the box and peered in. Bear was sitting right there on top. His rear end pointed up. She pulled him out and held him at arm's length to be sure it was really the sweet bear come home. She determined that it was, save that ribbon that he must have lost in his travels.

The new friend bear in the bottom of the box was sweet and soft and had a blue satin ribbon around his neck. The Momma reflected with a smile that he must have adopted another brother for the family.

When she thought of keeping this bear from The Girl all the way until Christmas, she felt like a idiot and so she decided to let The Girl have Bear. But how? The Momma straightened the bed and carefully placed both bears back in the box the way they had traveled.

She skipped down the stairs and found The Girl painting at the kitchen table, "Come on upstairs, I have something that you need to see!" Momma also motioned for the brother to follow.

The kidlets, with excited faces, raced up the stairs and into the bedroom with the box.

The Momma directed the Little One to the box, "There is something in this box that I think you should see." The Girl looked up at her Momma puzzled and the Momma's heart swelled just a wee bit. The Little One started opening the box as she said, "What is it? OH! BEAR!" She pulled the floppy bear out and instantly hugged him to her chest. After a moment she pulled him off of herself and held him at arms length and looked at him hard. She studied his fur and his face and her brow wrinkled up when she noticed the missing bow.

Momma interceded, "He must have lost his bow in his travels. He was gone so long, who knows what happened to his bow." The Girl tucked Bear under her arm in such a sweet familiar way and she looked in the box again. She gasped slightly and reached in to pull out the second bear. "But Momma, where did this bear come from?!"

"Oh, I think Bear decided that he needed a brother, so I think he adopted him." The kids were later known to argue over where the brother was adopted from, they couldn't decide whether he was from China, or from Asia.

Momma continued on, "Perhaps since Bear needed a brother, perhaps your brother could be the new owner of this bear." The Girl instantaneously agreed and handed her brother the new bear.

The first thing she did was take Bear down to the Book Nook and read him a story while he was snuggled on her lap. The Momma watched this take place and tears welled up in her eyes. The sweetness, the specialness of the Book Nook had just grown by another ten fold. Many times what children are really trying to say comes out so much more profoundly in what they do.

After the Book Nook, the Girl decided that Bear needed a new ribbon and that he needed some clothes. Some pajamas perhaps? The Momma promised to sew some up soon.

The rest of the day and the next couple of days Bear could be found snuggled up very close to The Girl at all times. He was once again the constant playmate for the Little One.

The brother bear became known as Carmel because of his Carmel color and he soon had a fast wrestling friend in The Boy.

The first night that the bears were both home, the Momma went and checked on her children as she does every night and she found both of them hugging the bears so close, so snuggly and tight, the way bears are meant to be held and snuggled.

For the next several days Bear was constantly attached to the girl, whether playing or eating or doing school Bear was there with her. He was christened with soy milk on his head from breakfast and later smelled like Labrador drool from the cleaning he got from the dog.

One night though, after the Momma had taught Cub Scouts and drove home with the Boy, she found the house in a mild panic. Bear was missing again. "Was he taken anywhere today? Did he go into any stores? Where was he last?" The sweet Girl was concerned, but not upset. She was optimistic, but slightly worried. She couldn't remember if she had taken him into the store. She thought the last place that she had him was inside the tent she had made in the living room. The house was searched from one end to the other. Blankets were shook out, beds were peered behind. Sofas were searched under, laundry baskets were ransacked.

No Bear could be found.

Finally, after much thought and concern, The Momma decided to check the back yard. Even though the weather was cold The Momma often would send her children out to run and play and imagine and she thought she vaguely remembered Bear going out to play as well. She decided to do a quick scan of the yard. She walked towards the play house and peered in. An empty doll stroller stared back at her. She looked up in the fort and nothing but a freezing spider caught her glance. She walked past the empty swing blowing in the breeze and she peeked in to the wagon and saw a small fuzzy brown shape tumbled in the bottom.

The Momma pulled the cold bear up to her and hugged him close and breathed in the sweet smell of much playing. She carried him up to a restless Little One who quickly pulled bear to close to her under the covers to warm him up. Her smile could have lit up the dark room. Bear grinned as he was slowly lulled to sleep by the steady breathing of a warm cozy companion.

Ah, the adventures that bears have.

simply bear

This story starts actually four years ago with a Momma who was desperately trying to potty train a two year old boy, who was frankly not ready to potty train. You may guess that she had never had a little boy before this one and she was a bit caught up in that whole momma mess where we are judged by what our children do developmentally. This young momma promised this little boy many things if he would just go potty ON the potty. He was doing pretty good with peeing on the potty, it was that other large annoyance he was having problems with. Finally his sweet little momma promised him that she would buy him a Thomas The Tank Engine train if he would do his big job on the potty.

One unforgettable day the little boy did this! The world cheered and the sun shone and the birds twittered, (not so unlike how bloggers twitter now). The young momma instantly decided that they needed to run out immediately and purchase this train, so she quickly strapped in the little two year old boy and the little seven month old girl and she headed for the village limit. THEN she had a thought... what if the small gift store that is actually located in this minuscule town carries Thomas stuff? She pulled her car right into a front parking spot at this small store and saw the Thomas sign in the front window. She strapped the baby girl in her stroller to contain her and she led the little super excited boy into the store full of collectibles and breakable things.

They headed right around the corner to where the Thomas stuff was and the little boy set right to playing with all the trains on the table. The baby girl was getting bored so the silly, young momma picked up a nice little bear that was handy and tossed it into the stroller for the baby girl to play with while the Momma searched for the coveted train.

The train was found! The boy was thrilled but he still continued to play with the trains on the store's train table. The momma turned to check on the quiet baby girl to find her with the tag of the bear in her mouth. The Momma's eyes got big and she carefully took the bear from the little girl's grip. The tag was completely mauled and unfortunately was one of those tags that people actually care about. The small red heart shaped tags that we are all so familiar with.

The young Momma's budget was tight and she wasn't planning on buying a bear and a train, but buy it she must and buy it she did. She planned on putting the bear in the baby's Christmas stocking because the baby would never know the difference and on Christmas morning the baby didn't.


As the years passed the bear was slowly toted around more and more. He was taken out to the yard where he had the pleasure of eating sand.

He was left on the floor to be tumbled about.

He was dressed up as a knight with his friends in the Girl's room.

He was snuggled in bed until he was quite smooshed. (look right down by her feet)

He was loved and loved and he was always called Bear. Simply Bear. Nothing fancy, nothing too haughty... just Bear.

Then the dreaded day came when Bear couldn't be found. He was missing. The Momma's head spun as she tried to think of where Bear could be. She tried thinking back to where Bear could have been taken and left and she couldn't remember where Bear had been last.

The, now five year old, girl and her now seven year old, brother and the, not as young, Momma asked everywhere they frequented if Bear was lurking in the lost and found bin. The Librarians were quite excited when they thought they had found the owner of a bear they had hiding in their bin, but it turned out to be someone else's bear waiting for their own owner. The other bins? They turned up Bearless.

The girl made Missing posters for Bear. She drew his picture on them and drew on his sweet green plaid bow and his sweet fluffy fur and she cried. Tears slid down her face and the Momma looked on worried. Anytime Bear was mentioned the Girl's eyes got large and started to well up with tears.

Finally, after Bear was not turning up by asking around lost and found boxes, the Momma took to the computer and started looking for Bear. Perhaps he was hanging out on that ebay place. Perhaps someone had located a long lost twin brother of bear somewhere else.

This Momma looked and looked and asked questions and searched. Finally one night, with several of the Momma's friends also looking, a sweet helper sent a link with a picture and the Momma's eyes lit up with such joy that she nearly fell out of her desk chair! She studied the face, she studied the body and she studied the price for flying Bear home and she pushed the little Buy It Now button.

Momma is now awaiting the arrival of bear and if it is indeed the one and the only Bear, then this sweet Bear will once again grace a stocking hanging carefully waiting for a little girl to find him and give him those hugs that only a little bear-struck girl can give.