My item is this monkey blanket toy that I’ve had since I was a baby. He’s faded blue, with brown edges and ‘I ♡ hugs’ embroidered on the front. He has a happy smile and a rattle in his head. He is the first toy that I ever got, and he brings me great comfort. I used to carry him around everywhere, but the constant anxiety of him somehow being destroyed set in and I keep him out in public a lot less. My parents have helped me find him for years (little bugger keeps getting misplaced) and never pressured me into getting rid of him. Most of my childhood my parents had struggled understanding why I did things, and their best effort often fell short of what I really needed. But they love me a lot, and let me keep this raggedy thing. Once, when the edges of the blanket first started to fray off, my mom bought the exact same color of shiny brown thread on the toy and tried to sew him back up. He’s still deteriorating, and they don’t have a functional purpose anymore, but the stitches remain. Over the past 14 years, he’s really gone downhill, but he’s been repaired, and I will repair and treasure him for the rest of my life. I don’t know how I would cope if he was somehow destroyed. Probably not a healthy mindset for an inanimate object, but it’s how I’ve always lived.

– T

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more