Story: A Reunion, a girl and her goat

I think this is the most recent photo I have of V and her beloved "Bubby." The Bubby pictured here is actually Bubby II. The original Bubby, who was named "Mozelle," was left in a restaurant in Destin the summer of '07. Mozelle was named "Mozelle" because he came in a gift of French goat's milk baby lotion and soap I received at a shower before V was born. So, he became her favorite lovey and then we lost him. We called and tried to have him shipped to us, but the lost and found closet had already been purged by the time we realized where we'd last been. So, my mom graciously found a new Mozelle, and once B was born, Mozelle became "Bubby." She changed his name, we think, once she heard us calling B "Buddy" from time to time.
Here are some pictures when he was still fresh and fluffy, you can really tell how young he is because of how shiny his coat is:






He pops up in lots of our pictures. I'd never realized how many there were of her with him in hand. These are just a scattered few.



He even goes to "the office" with her. This is one of the earliest photos of her talking on Jeff's phone. I guess technically she's just listening.

This one is right before B was born. She was learning all about caring for a baby, and looking very intimidated by the whole thing. Again, notice the shiny coat, this is Bubby #2. The first Bubby had gone missing that summer and Meme had replaced him.

Bubby at Christmas. So here's where the story gets interesting. We got another Bubby to keep "waiting in the wings" in the likely event she lost him again. This one however was white instead of caramel. After a while, Bubby #2 got really threadbare, ears falling off, head coming undone, etc. So we introduced the new white Bubby and she rejected him. Completely. They became "old" bubby and "new" bubby and she never wanted "new" bubby.

So, time went on, Bubby was beloved as ever and Feb. '09 rolls around. We've told her many, many times that if she takes Bubby places, he could get lost. This particular night she slipped him past us. We didn't realize she had him until it was too late, meaning, she told us she took him with her somewhere and we didn't get home with him. I thought about where he might be, but thought, "he looks so ragged, surely they'll just throw him away...." and then later it became one of those instances where Jeff and I weren't sure we WANTED Bubby back anyway. If it was bedtime and he couldn't be found, one or both of us usually had to spend a few minutes looking everywhere for him. And truthfully, he ended up in some pretty crazy places. So, three months went by and the other night, I saw a sign at this particular establishment that said "Our lost and found is overflowing.....have you lost something?" Since this was the place I'd suspected we left him, I put in a written request and the next day, a lady called. Bubby had been found!

A few nights later, Jeff and I brought him home to V and I can only say the reunion was very sweet. She hugged him about 20 times and said "I love you Bubby! I love you!" over and over again.

These are the sweet moments of childhood that I'll probably really miss once my children are grown and too old for sentimental stuffed animals.