The other day my sister posted on her Facebook page that her daughter had lost her blankie. She called the stores that they had been to, but had no luck in finding the blankie. I felt so bad for my little niece, but it brought back some memories of Rion’s blankie.
Of all the kids, Rion is the only one to really have a blankie. Cordelia has a favorite blanket, but we never have to carry it with everywhere we go like Rion had to. Rion’s blankie was in fact a Snoopy receiving blanket. It was much softer than your standard receiving blanket. Rion loved to twirl it between his fingers when I fed him or as he fell asleep, thumb in the mouth and blanket tightly gripped. Thankfully, we had two of these blankies as one always seemed to be in the wash. However, these repeated washings did a number on the blankies and they began to fall apart. Soon, we had a pile of shreds. One of the blankies still had a pretty good size square to it, but one day Rion lost it in Menards. I didn’t even bother calling to look for it. It was so ragged, I’m sure someone just threw it away. Plus, I was secretly happy to not have to keep track of that blankie anymore. Besides, Rion was getting old enough to give up the blankie. I did look for a replacement blankie, but I have never seen a receiving blanket like he had. A couple years after losing his blankie, Rion saw a picture of himself with his blankie in his hands. “Ohhhh,” he said, “I miss my blankie.” After all that time I still felt bad for his loss. It was really the first time he felt the loss of something really important to him. I still have a few of the blankie shreds hidden safely away in his keepsake box. There were many times I wanted to give in and give him a piece of the blankie. Even years later as he looked at that photo I wanted to tell him I still had part of his blankie left. Someday, he'll get it back.
Of all the kids, Rion is the only one to really have a blankie. Cordelia has a favorite blanket, but we never have to carry it with everywhere we go like Rion had to. Rion’s blankie was in fact a Snoopy receiving blanket. It was much softer than your standard receiving blanket. Rion loved to twirl it between his fingers when I fed him or as he fell asleep, thumb in the mouth and blanket tightly gripped. Thankfully, we had two of these blankies as one always seemed to be in the wash. However, these repeated washings did a number on the blankies and they began to fall apart. Soon, we had a pile of shreds. One of the blankies still had a pretty good size square to it, but one day Rion lost it in Menards. I didn’t even bother calling to look for it. It was so ragged, I’m sure someone just threw it away. Plus, I was secretly happy to not have to keep track of that blankie anymore. Besides, Rion was getting old enough to give up the blankie. I did look for a replacement blankie, but I have never seen a receiving blanket like he had. A couple years after losing his blankie, Rion saw a picture of himself with his blankie in his hands. “Ohhhh,” he said, “I miss my blankie.” After all that time I still felt bad for his loss. It was really the first time he felt the loss of something really important to him. I still have a few of the blankie shreds hidden safely away in his keepsake box. There were many times I wanted to give in and give him a piece of the blankie. Even years later as he looked at that photo I wanted to tell him I still had part of his blankie left. Someday, he'll get it back.
No comments:
Post a Comment