A Friend Forever

                I can’t remember exactly when Monty came to us.  It seemed like he was always just there.  We didn’t name him. Monty was the name on his tag. He was a very soft peach color with big eyes and floppy ears.  Not very big, he was only about 6 inches tall.  Some children have blankets or teddy bears but my daughter had Monty the stuffed rabbit.

                To say that he went everywhere she did would be an understatement.  She hardly ever let go of his ear, even when she was eating.  If she liked you she would hold him out like a scepter allowing you to pet his head.  If she didn’t take to you she would roll him tightly into her arm.  Even people around town knew him by name. The lady at the post office would always ask my daughter how he was.  Because she did, she was granted the rare privilege of holding him herself.

                As my daughter got older she still brought him everywhere but letting go of his ear she would place him strategically within eyesight.  That worked fine until the day she left him 2 hours away at a doctor’s office.  We could not return to pick him up for two whole weeks and that is all we talked about for two weeks.
                One day Monty just disappeared.  We could not find him no matter how many times we retraced our steps.  Desperate, I searched for an identical rabbit to replace him.  It turned out that he was a limited edition and without the aid of the internet in those days I could not find his twin.  I brought home another bunny with stand-up ears and a cute little T-shirt but feared he would be totally rejected.  She welcomed him half-heartedly but soon he became a constant companion.  She even called him Monty 2 and 27 years later he is still in her possession.  I don’t think he ever really replaced Monty in her heart but was accepted as a reminder of their adventures together.