Build a bear....

What is it about stuffing a teeny tiny heart into a bear that makes it personal....is it picking out the type of bear, picking the outfit, personalizing a sound?? Nope....it's consumerism taking over, and I bought into it once. My first boyfriend (if you'd call him that) decided to join the Navy and left to start training. I sent him letters, photos and gifts nearly every day to keep his spirits up through the process and one such gift was you guessed it--a BEAR, but not exactly a build-a-bear. He had gotten one of those for his ex so I did not want to go down that road. I got a Vermont Teddy--simple, classic and tasteful--I ordered a sailor uniform to personalize it and saved it for his return. Well a lot of water went over that bridge and we were not dating/talking by the time he returned and I was left with a Navy teddy. The teddy sat (laughing at me) in the corner of my bedroom as a reminder of my lack of a boy. But as it turns out one man's bear can in fact be another man's bear. The next guy I dated a few months later played baseball. I ordered a baseball uniform for the bear, chunked the sailor get up and passed the animal along. Happy Valentine's ha! (Sorry people, regift, but the one and only time I've done so)