Somebody Stop me!

Sometimes a collection starts out with the innocent purchase of one adorable bear. When Friends gather, they admire your new bear. You point out the details and the adorable paw print that his hidden somewhere on all of the artists pieces. You show them the poignant saying on the bottom of the bear. They all say" Awww". A birthday comes up, Friends give you another cute bear, another paw print to find and a sweet saying Like this one- "Where your treasure is, there will be your heart also". Aww, Your family is touched, they think "Great! Christmas is coming, Mom seems to like having these bears around the house". They shop for more little brown resin bears with cute paw prints and sayings to melt the mushy mom. Your husband discovers they also have them in plush as well! Mom gushes and finds more spots to display these little guys. How thoughtful her family is to notice her fondness for these bears. Another Anniversary, Another Christmas, Another birthday. Bear, Bear, Bear. OOOH, The wife is having a bad day, why bring flowers?....The bear will brighten her! Then, you realize another shelf is necessary. A special shelf to hold the precious first bear and all her bear friends. Initially, You treasure the bears .Then You try and remember who gave you each one? Why the hell does this one have a broken arm? I've never broken MY arm.??


Some stand out in your memory like this one from my son who loves baking Christmas cookies with me.

You start to skip dusting them as often. You approach the bear shelf with your pledge and cloth..... You think why the fuck would they make these with so many grooves and crevices? You realize that white haze of dust gives them an antiqued quality that they'd lacked.

The plush ones need vacuuming. Your lucky if life hands you the luxury of extra time to run Mr. Orek across the floors never mind attachment time to suck up dusty hairbows and tiny sweater vests. You think of that sweet saying that says where treasures are so is your heart. Your frustration subsides. You swoon again, this time it's for tea pots and Lenox disney.
Your husband falls in love with tin toys. The insanity begins again. Soon we need more shelves, more attachements, more pledge.