Teddy Bear

If you visited this blog, you probably wondered what is the thing with a little traveling Teddy Bear.

This Teddy Bear was given to me many years ago by accidental tourist, when I lived in Amsterdam and worked at hotel reception. It's probably a kind of souvenir toy one can buy at the airport, mine has a Maple leaf on its paw, real canadian Teddy. Now, I don't remember ever having a toys - apparently I had some as a small toddler but I do remember having books and making up my own toys: cities built from books, little people (kings,queens,soldiers) drawn on pieces of paper. This is not because I lived in desperate poverty but because I preferred to use my own imagination and create my toys out of nothing than to have something already made. However, this little funny Teddy found a place on my bookshelf and lived there quite nicely until I started to pack my suitcase and decided to work on cruise ships - in a spur of the moment, I decided Teddy goes with me, he will see the world finally. For many years he is my traveling companion. I have tiny room always shared with somebody and he lives on my bookshelf. Sometime I take him out with me to have a picture of him looking at the world. Apparently I am not the only one because a lot of people on the ship have their own little pets like this one. He always travel in my backpack because I don't want to risk having him lost with a suitcase somewhere. The only time ever I was afraid for him was when I ended up in hospital with Appendicitis operation and my luggage was brought in a hospital - I was in a bed with tubes attached to my arms and could not move, was wondering did they pack my Teddy in a suitcase. At certain point I couldn't stand uncertainty anymore and although it was dangerous for me to lift anything heavy so soon after the operation, I crawled out of bed and fiddled with a really heavy suitcase just to check is he there somewhere - he was!

Right now he is here, sharing my space no matter where I roam. He is a world-class traveler, had seen places like Australia, Alaska, South Africa, Caribbean Islands, Canary Islands, most of the cities along Mediterranean and Baltic coasts. Yes, we have visited Canada together. He does not have name except "Teddy Bear" and I don't sleep with him, his place is always on a bookshelf. Just as I need my own space,he needs his - kind of my little alter ego. Recently I noticed he had a small piece of cloth attached with name of the company that made him - "Maplefoot babies" - even found a picture of his little relatives on the web. For a moment thought about cutting it off, than I decided no, if he lived with it for so many years, let him have it. He is small enough to fit into palm of my hand so its not difficult to have him around and I really get a kick of taking a picture of him around the world. Probably somewhere unconsciously I think he is little me. 

Naturally my colleagues know about him - sometimes they give me other bears like presents, I am thankful and glad but they never travel with me because I can't travel around with a Teddy Bear family. He is the first and the only Teddy Bear. I am looking forward to a time when my nomadic life would finally settle in some regular dry-land routine and Teddy will finally find a real home. I am usually not attached to anything material - all my stuff is always spread around in different countries and sometimes I even buy several editions of the same book because I forgot that I already bought it, however Teddy Bear is my irreplaceable little companion, he does not harm anyone and just lives quietly, I love my Teddy Bear.

Once I get my own place, he will have the whole shelf for himself.