I used to think the "Velveteen Rabbit" story was dumb.  That was, until we had children of our own.  I used to have stuffed animals when I was just a young girl.  They would be placed neatly on my bed after making it each morning.  But, they never came "alive".  I didn't think that stuffed animals came alive.  That is, until we had our own children.

      Our oldest son was just a newborn when he was given a cute little blue bunny.  Cute stuffed animals just automatically go with cute, cuddly babies.  At first, this blue bunny was just a prop.  As our son grew older, though, he started to become attached to this little fuzzy creature.  Wherever he went, he took his little stuffed animal with him.

      One day, when our son was just beginning to talk, I heard him crying in the living room.  I went to investigate and found him looking over the edge of the sofa, saying “Meow” over and over again.  Curious, I bent over to see what he could be referring to and saw that his long-eared friend had fallen over the edge.  I had not realized it, but he had named his little blue bunny “Meow”.  Our son’s first word had been “cat”, so I guess it would be a natural thing for “meow” to follow right after that.

      Meow continued to go everywhere with our son.  Even when traveling, we would check to see if the blue bunny made it back in the van so that we wouldn’t accidentally leave it somewhere.  We knew that there would be a very disappointed little boy if anything happened to his favorite little stuffed animal.

      When our son was around 4 years old, he came to me asking where Meow was.  I was used to the question because sometimes his little bunny would get misplaced, but we would always find him after a thorough search of the house.  And then, our son would exclaim, “Oh yeah!  I remember hiding him there!”  This time, however, the blue bunny did not show up.  Where could he be?  Did we make sure it came back home with us the last time we went somewhere?  The last time I remembered seeing our son playing with the stuffed animal was in my husband’s and my bedroom.  I looked everywhere I could think of, but to no avail.  He was gone!

      I didn’t want our son to get all upset about his missing friend, so I told him that Meow would show up eventually.  We also prayed about it, knowing that God knew exactly where Meow was.  Our son seemed to be taking this all so well.  I was so glad… because I wasn’t!  I realized then that I had also become attached to his little friend.  It was no longer just a blue ball of fuzz, but he was actually part of our family.  With Meow now gone, there was such an emptiness that remained.  I continued looking for Meow every time I thought of some new place that I had not looked before.  But, after awhile, I finally gave up hope of ever seeing him again.

      Two years later, our son came to me and asked for the flashlight.  When I asked why, he simply stated, “I’m going to find Meow.”  It made my heart ache, realizing that he hadn’t actually forgotten about his little blue friend.  But he was determined.  He said that he was going to find him.  I knew that he would be disappointed and it made me so very sad, but I gave him the flashlight and sent him off on his hopeless hunt.

      He wasn’t gone too long before he came running back.  “Mom!” he shouted.  “Look what I found!”  And, there he was!  It was Meow, alive and well, and… smiling???  I don’t know who was happier, my son or me.  He explained that he had found him under our bed.  Now, this may sound kind of bad, but I really do try to keep our house neat and clean.  It’s just that I keep our extra blankets (in plastic) under our bed.  When Meow was first missing, I had looked under the bed, but had not moved anything since I couldn’t imagine something going beyond where I could see.  But, on this special day, my son had actually moved the blankets around and there lay his special friend.  Somehow, our son must have dropped him between the headboard and the wall and Meow had rolled in between the blankets that were stored under the bed.  We were so overjoyed and sent our thanks up to our loving and ever-watchful Father above!  It was like Meow was a brand new bunny all over again!  Maybe in God’s own way, He was teaching our young son how He feels when one of His own has been lost and then found, how He rejoices when someone comes back into His fold.  In Matthew 18:13, Jesus says this of a shepherd who went searching for his lost sheep and then found it, “he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.”

      Since then, Meow has settled down and gotten married.  He found a lovely pink bunny bride at Grandpa and Grandma’s house that they agreed could come and live with us.  Mr. and Mrs. Meow don’t go very many places anymore, which is fine with me.  I don’t think that I could handle losing one of these dear members of our family again.  J 

~Connie