Commentary by Christy Solo
A few days ago a mutual posted a pic of two Ty Beenie Babies on social media. She declared victory! at finding them because – she wrote – her mom had thrown hers out when she was a kid declaring she was “too old” to have Beenie Babies.
Clearly you are never too old for Beanie Babies.
It reminded me of my favorite childhood plushie who had been likewise given away to charity behind my wee back.
In my case my age wasn’t the issue, but we were moving and in my mom’s mind, getting rid of five of my childhood toys was going to make all the difference when it came to packing and moving. She donated my two dolls (and I literally mean my TWO dolls – I ONLY had two) and three of my plushies. I had about seven plushies total. Prior to packing, I noticed three were gone, most notably “Dumbo.”
I write “Dumbo” because my fave plushie was an elephant, but very much not a licensed Disney Dumbo. He was a very inexpensive no-name-brand elephant plushie, but I loved him all the same and carried him everywhere.
One of my fondest childhood memories was taking “Dumbo” to Crater Lake. He really enjoyed it. At the end of the day, when we went to dinner at The Lodge, the staff brought him his own highchair and set it up at the table. Then the waiter brought him a bowl of cashews when he served our meals.
Stinkin’ adorable, right? And so kind of the staff at the Lodge (I’m guessing my dad was *dying* of embarrassment…which actually makes it all the better).
Big thanks to that past staff at The Lodge, wherever life took you from there. You made a kid’s whole summer!
Still, Mom somehow thought “Dumbo” had to go.
About a year later, once we’d moved, mom did buy me an actual brand name Disney/Sears/Gund Winnie the Pooh plushie, and while he was no “Dumbo” I did carry him everywhere. He did not get served honey at a nice restaurant, but he did get to tour one of the Missions in Southern California “Oh, bother!”
I never forgot about “Dumbo” however, and like my social media mutual, years later I sort of got him back.
When I was in Junior High we took a trip to Disneyland, and I began saving my money as soon as I knew we were going. Before I even hit a single ride, I hit a gift shop and bought a gen-u-ine Disney Dumbo plushie.
To her credit, the next time we moved Mom did not send Disney Dumbo or any of my plushies off to charity.
