Justin received a stuffed animal dog from his mom…neither us can recall exact time frame of when he received it from his mom, but we are thinking sometime in his early 20’s. It’s a grey dog intended to be a Weimaraner, but not sure that is truly what it is, but it is cute and flimsy. In our condo, it sat in our bedroom closet on a shelf and when we moved to our house, its home remained the same shelf in our new bedroom closet. The girls knew it was a gift from Justin’s mom, grandma Brenda, and that is why it remained so special to Justin. One day, Harper was having a hard time, so Justin let Harper borrow the dog. This happened several more times and finally Justin gave it to Harper, roughly three years ago. She began sleeping with the dog. At some point, she decided to name the dog….her name for the dog…Brenda. She believed it to be fitting and an easy choice….this way she would always remember Brenda.
Roughly 18 months ago, Justin’s aunt Rita (Brenda’s older sister) who Justin also considered to be more like his Grandma than his aunt, gave him three stuffed bears. She collected stuffed bears and was starting to clean out her house (something that seems to be increasingly common as people age) and she wanted each grandchild, great grandchild, nephews, nieces, great nephews, and great nieces to have one. Harper’s green stuffed bear became a fixture in her bed to keep Brenda company. And when it came to naming her stuffed bear, that too was easy for Harper….Rita of course.
So, each night for the last few years Harper sleeps with Brenda and Rita. Often when we tuck Harper in, we often tuck Brenda and Rita in too.
