Why I Still Keep My Childhood Teddy Bear in the Top Drawer Under My Sweaters

Dear Delyara, I was clearing out my wardrobe this afternoon, aggressively filling bin bags for the donation bank, when I found him tucked at the very back. One of his plastic eyes is completely missing, his stitching is frayed at the shoulder, and his fur has lost all its softness to decades of storage. But holding him for just five seconds felt like a direct, electric line to the kid who used to believe that monsters could be kept away by pulling a blanket over your toes. I didn't throw him out. I tucked him right back under my winter jumpers. We all need a quiet, unjudging witness to the person we used to be before the world told us to grow up.