My Favorite Childhood Toy
My Favorite Childhood Toy
WRITING PROMPT - Write about your favorite toy is a tired. What was it? Describe it. Why was it your favorite toy?
BONUS CHALLENGE - What is your favorite memory of playing with this toy?
My favorite toy as a child was a stuffed dog. It was also a bank.
I named her Mish because that was my nickname if I couldn’t come up with anything else on the spot.
Mish was brown and fuzzy. She kinda looked like a Scotty dog, and was life-sized. She was in the sitting position and had a metal tube inside of her -with the coin slot underneath her body. She came to me with a yellow ribbon that my brother destroyed five minutes after I met her.
I got her when I opened a savings account at Johnstown Bank and Trust Company on Broad Street in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. I was about eight years old at the time and this beauty was my free gift opening an account.
Mish came to me at a time that I felt all alone in the world. Stuff was going on with me medically and Mish became my comfort and my confidant. She was with me all through my high school years. She wiped away so many feelings that rolled down my cheeks. She absorbed emotions so I didn’t have to feel them anymore.
I felt like a freak because all of the weird medical crap, and she was the only one who didn’t judge me for my emotional roller coaster.
Mish was there for the diagnoses, the treatments, the wins, the fear, the broken hearts, the pain, and the confusion. She helped to chase away the nightmares while I slept, so that I had more energy to deal with the nightmares that were happening during the waking moments.
She stayed with me through infertility, the birth of both of my miracle babies, and even the move from my first house as a small family.
I believe that Mish is now in the trunk in my attic. She is there to retire so she does not have to help me anymore. She’s done her job and it’s time for her to have the peace she deserves. I am trying to be so strong, but there are times that I want to open the trunk and get my best friend back.
My favorite memory of Mish was traveling from Johnstown to our new home in Middletown. Pennsylvania. I was 13 years old and we were packing the car and driving to our new home.
Dad and my brother were in the moving van. Mom and I were in the station wagon. I had Mish on my lap at that time.
I was crying because they were moving me before my last year of junior high. I had to start over this year and then I would be going to another new school next year. I couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t let me stay with my grandparents for the school year so I could graduate with my friends. (I’m obviously still holding on to the resentments on this one.)
I was in the front seat talking to mom when the car started having problems. I remember picking up Mish and hugging her. Mom was upset that the car wasn’t working right. She didn’t want to move, either, but dad had to go where the work was. She was trying to make the best of a bad situation, but that only made me angrier.
Mom was grumbling about the “damned car” and Mish gave me the courage to speak what was on my mind at the time. I told mom that the universe was telling us that this was a bad idea. It’s not the right time and that fate was making sure we stayed where we belong! I guess I got on her nerves because she backhanded me right in the…stuffed animal.
Once again, Mish is my hero!
NOTE: My mother didn’t hit me often. This was not child abuse. And I probably wouldn’t have taken as much as she did before going off. Besides, she never even connected with me, just my stuffed animal.
It was a different time; a time, when even teachers didn’t need permission to smack you upside the head with whatever they had in their hands. My mom did ask me to stop talking, but I was angry, hurt, and may be a little hopeful that she would take me up on it.
So don’t be hating on my mom! Instead, look at this story for the hero that was my best friend! She saved me from tears, from fears, and from almost anything bad that ever came my way!
