Huffing Bees

I think it’s about time I introduce you to another member of our household. Bees. Bees the bear.

He’s seen better days. Love Monster got him from one of my best friends days after she was born. You never know which thing they get will become THE ONE. Bees did. 

Then.

And now.

 He’s about to disintegrate. He’s already lost his balls. (The balls in his feet sickos.) His armpits have been stitched up countless times. He can no longer withstand the washing machine so fabreeze is our friend.  And truthfully it’s best we can’t wash him too much. LM hates it when he doesn’t smell like himself.

“I need to smell him!!!!” then Love Monster huffs him like a fume addict huffs their static cling spray before getting out of the car for school. It brings her so much comfort. He’s as real and important to her as anyone in our family. And I have to admit he’s as real to me too.

So Love Monster, tell me, what is it about Bees that makes him so special?

He’s soft. I like smelling him.

Cool. What do you like doing with him?

I like sleeping with him a lot.

Gonna let that elephant of a joke in the room go. Anything else you’d like us to know about Bees?

He’s allergic to pepper. He told me so.

That’s another thing. He talks. Not like pull a string and he’ll talk. LM is his ventriloquist. His voice sounds like a raspy old vaudevillian woman’s which makes sense because he stars in their clown shows often times. I could have a made a killing off the girls in the early 1900’s. Their show rocks by those standards.

He’s traveled with us to Chicago. He is her guy. Her best friend. Her keeper of secrets. But she also knows the limits. He only comes in the car or stays at home. No where else. This because he’s getting too tattered and because we’ve had one too many emergencies because we left him somewhere. And that is a disaster. No matter what time or where we are, he must be retrieved.

It’s an interesting phenomenon, I think, when your kid has that lovie that they attach too. (Or maybe I just have too much time on my hands.) I find nothing wrong with it. We adults have things we are attached to. It might not be a teddy bear. Maybe it’s our computer, favorite book, that perfectly worn in tee-shirt. It’s our stress reliever. Bees gives LM that little bit of comfort that she needs sometimes. Bees was the first being she loved, outside her papa and I. Her first sibling, before Smirker came into this world. He’s pretty special. I hate to see his tatters and frays, but Love Monster doesn’t mind them. It means he loves me, she told me once. Yes it does.