Several days ago, my sister-in-law sent me an email, a forwarded message from her neighborhood email network. A little girl in her neighborhood had lost her beloved stuffed animal, a brown rabbit named Bun-Bun. The author of the note was looking for any information on the whereabouts of Bun-Bun to help out the “very broken-hearted little girl.” The message broke my heart, too. My son has a beloved stuffed animal, a pink rabbit who’s name is also Bun-Bun.

Our Bun-Bun came to the family several years ago as an Easter gift to my daughter from her great aunt. He was perfect- fuzzy, bright pink, and the right amount of stuffing to make him great for cuddling. An instant hit, right? Wrong. My daughter took one look at him and assigned him a spot at the bottom of her stuffed animal pile. A couple years later, when my son was a baby, he was playing in her room one day and came across the bunny. He claimed it right away, and as soon as he could talk he christened it Bun-Bun. That rabbit is his constant companion: he’s been on all our vacations, doctor visits, parks… you name it! He’s even been to preschool show and tell twice! When my son gets bumps and bruises, we always hear “I want Bun-Bun!” through the tears. As you can imagine, he is no longer fluffy and pink and perfect, but he is very loved. He is a part of the family!

Last December, the same great aunt called me to discuss Christmas presents. She told me she was going to get my son a new stuffed animal because every time she saw him he had “that filthy pink thing.” (In my defense, Bun-Bun goes on many more adventures in the washing machine than any of our other stuffed animals.) I reminded her that she had given us the rabbit in the first place but told her she was welcome to try to interest my boy in something else. For Christmas, she gave him a very cool stuffed tree frog. He liked it very much, named him Froggy, then announced that Froggy and Bun-Bun were best friends! Great. We had two stuffed friends to take everywhere (which made our outings a little more crowded.) He called them “my guys.” But now, Froggy comes on fewer and fewer trips, and he doesn’t always sleep on the bed. Bun-Bun remains the constant companion, and I’m not surprised a bit!

So my heart goes out to that little girl who lost her Bun-Bun, and to her parents who have the impossible task of replacing him. I wish them all the best and hope their Bun-Bun finds his way home.