Bad Mother

My son has 4 best friends. He plays with them. He talks to them. They sleep with him. He loves them.

They are: Tigger, Floppsy, Pink Bear and Bee (or B as I tease him). Most of these characters are easily recognizable in this picture. Pink Bear is the pink bear. Tigger is the tiger. Floppsy is the floppy-eared dog. And B(ee) is, well, the stuffed Nemo.

When E was small(er), he called all fish b(ee)s. Don't ask me why. He knew what a bee was and he knew what a fish was but he still called fish b(ee)s. He also loved the movie "Finding Nemo" so when I was in Orlando on a business trip I picked up a stuffed Nemo at the Disney Store in the Orlando airport. E christened him 'B(ee)'.

As parents we aren't supposed to have favorites. B(ee) and Pink Bear are his favorites.

I have lost B(ee). E is devastated. B(ee) has been missing for about 3 weeks. E asks daily where is B(ee). I have looked everywhere in the house and I can only guess that E left him somewhere. Poor B(ee). He survived being dropped in mud puddles. He survived trips through the washing machine. He survived being laid on, kissed, and hugged. He even survived losing a fin (I sewed it back on). But now he is gone.

I went to the Disney Store and ordered a stuffed Nemo (doesn't it look the same? I thought it was the same). When it arrived, it was much larger than the original B(ee) and a different color (more reddish-orange than the yellow-orange that is B(ee)). I hid it in a closet (anyone want it?).

So I searched for a new stuffed Nemo.

And found this. I found it on e-Bay and paid an extra $10 to get it ASAP (does this look the same? Please tell me this looks the same).

I can't bear looking into that sweet face and saying his beloved B(ee) is gone forever.