I had a small bear named Beary (not pictured). He had a little bib and a tongue that stuck out. I’m not sure what happened to him, but I imagine he needed to see the world just as I did. We both know we’re never truly be apart.
That said, I had a ton of stuffed friends and I’ve never liked hierarchy. All my stuffed pals had their part to play in my life and I’m grateful to each of them.
Mar 2, 2025
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what is with all these seperated childhood teddy stories wdym you parted ways !??? 🥲🥲🥲
Mar 2, 2025
choc_orange I’m not sure where he went! I never got rid of him but I don’t have him anymore. I can only assume he got busy and that’s why we fell out of touch. Life just works that way sometimes. You find yourself in different places in your lives, whether human or stuffed bear.
Mar 2, 2025
zenlikeme he is just living his best life out there with his bib and silly tongue
Mar 2, 2025
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this was your placeholder, I see them in you ❣️
when you leave, it will be us again 🌛
Nov 12, 2024
This is the only photo I have with a bunch of them together at once but there were so many more.
One favorite was a pink stuffed unicorn… my best friend told me when we were little that if you hold its horn with your fingers and close your eyes make a wish it’ll come true so I would make so many of them!
Another favorite was an off brand Beanie Baby that my parents got me after I got into a really bad scary accident at school in kindergarten or first grade playing dodgeball but with foam balls… I got hit with a ball so hard that I fell onto the asphalt blacktop and wrecked my forehead and my knees and my coach basically told me to walk it off and wouldn’t let me go to the nurse but I just went anyway? and then my mom came and yelled at my coach and made him cry and that man was a retired Marine. Anyway that stuffed animal’s name was Brownie! He was brown.
No this photo was not taken on Halloween that’s just how I dressed.
Mar 2, 2025
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I’m not going to lie, I used to be the type to cringe at adults whose beds were covered in stuffed animals and still do believe there should be a cut off but I just recently began growing my family of plushies and it’s really upgraded my lounging time, of which there is a lot of. Sometimes I’m not sure what my overall aesthetic is or how I want my home to look but I think it’s somewhere between Korean minimalism and straight up age regressed paradise. I’m unashamed of the joy it brings me to walk into a store, suddenly come across a plushie I feel drawn to and bring it home with a newfound name/personality. My first one was a four foot teddy bear handed down to me by a follower after I posted how much I wanted a giant teddy bear. Shout out to them. His name is Genji, named after Murasaki Shikibu’s “The Tale of Genji”: a classic work of Japanese literature written in the early 11th century centered on the life and loves of a handsome son born to an Emperor. Then, I have a Harbour seal who’s name I forgot so I renamed him Melvin, a grey bunny named Roger and a pink squishmallow named Martha May Vicky Christina Barcelona. I don’t know why they’re mostly male so don’t ask me. I look forward to extending this family.
Dec 6, 2022
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I’m not a parent and do not plan to be. Kids can wear me out fast with their high energy and noise level; it leaves me very over-stimulated. But it’s pretty extreme when people say they ”hate kids” and I often feel it’s a reflection of their childhood and beliefs around how kids “should be.” That they were expected to be quiet, obedient, and out of the way by their parents when they were little.
It’s fucking hard to be a kid. You’re dealing with a rapidly-changing body and underdeveloped brain, managed by flawed adults who are enforcing boundaries that you do not understand. It’s confusing and hard to manage your feelings and honestly just a lot.
People are impatient with kids when they‘re brand new to the world and figuring it all out, and this is a time kids need a friend the most. Children can also be teachers to adults with how they are less habituated to the world. They teach us how to be free and open-hearted and silly and imaginative.
A good practice is to be kinder and gentler with kids. If that feels difficult, start with gentleness toward your inner child. Maybe that’s the child in your life that needs your attention and kindness most.
Apr 16, 2025
I meant to post this yesterday. Absolutely beautiful morning for walk.
This morning is also beautiful but in a spring rain kind of way.
Mar 23, 2025
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Prescriptive gender is a prison. Rather than gender being a form of self-expression, gender is treated as a pass/fail test for how well you can conform to cultural expectations.
Since I was young, I remember feeling a great deal of pressure to conform to these expectations around what “men” are meant to be. You like sports, cars, womanizing, aggression, and not having feelings. I felt so distant from this ideal. I was sensitive and shy, and I preferred spending my time being creative in some way
For a long time, I felt like I was failing at “being a man.” In many ways I was! Because I didn’t need to bea man. All I needed to be was myself.
It’s taken me a long time to separate myself from prescriptive gender, sharpening in on which aspects of masculine energy I identify with and which I don’t. I’m not done yet. Maybe I will never fully be. The self continues to evolve over time, and I suspect aspects of my gender will too.
Mar 15, 2025