"I'm looking for my sweetheart," she said again. I asked her which doll or animal she was referring to, seeing many strewn about on the floor. "My SWEETHEART," was all she could tell me.
Inspiration: I asked her what color her sweetheart was. "Gray." But again I was dumbfounded because to my knowledge she had no gray playthings. Her plastic elephant or duplo cat? No and no.
Later during the day, I noticed her beloved bunny blanket who likes to hide. And by "hide", I mean "be trundled along everywhere and often forgotten". I thought about how faded and worn Bunny had become since Norah was a baby. Currently, Bunny really enjoys "sharing" Norah's breakfast, and though he is laundered regularly, his fur is now matted... and grayish! Of course. In my judgmental mind, Once a pink bunny, Always a pink bunny, and it would never have occurred to me that a pink bunny would fall into the gray sweetheart category. But two-year-olds who share their papa's genes see bunnies differently.
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly..."
2 comments:
I read that book to the little boy I watch all the time. So sweet. Thanks for sharing.
Awww...I remember that bunny! How sweet :)
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