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My Favorite Thing

This week’s Friday Flashback is all about favorite items from childhood. Please focus your attention to the following photo:

blankie.jpg

What is this raggedy, waffle-weaved piece of fabric? And why is it the shape of Nevada?

Friends, this is my blankie. Or, more specifically, what’s left of my blankie. (8 square inches.)

Once pale yellow with satin edges, I slept with this bad boy for 6 or 7 years of my life, until the fateful day when my parents told me it was time to say goodbye.

Say goodbye?! To my blankie?! The one that I escorted around the house all day? The blankie that I rubbed across my face when I was sad and lonely? The one that I slept with wrapped around my pillow to ensure constant face-to-blankie interaction every night of my LIFE?

I wasn’t going down without a fight. I wanted an explanation! A parental mission statement including, but not limited to, how throwing away a harmless blanket would better my life!

Or so I thought.

I threw my beloved blankie in the trash at the promise of a Dilly Bar.

A 39-cent Dilly Bar from Dairy Queen.

Whoorl: Poster Girl for Bribery.

However, as my parents were loading my little sister into the car for our Dairy Queen extravaganza, I ran to the kitchen, grabbed a pair of scissors and cut off a small corner of the blanket.

(HA! A blankie AND a Dilly Bar! I outsmarted The Man! TAKE THAT!)

So, I’ve had this piece of blanket for my entire life. I don’t sleep with it or have any interaction with it really; it just sits in the closet with my sweaters, but I would be absolutely crushed if I ever lost it.

What’s your favorite childhood item? If you blog about it, be sure and leave a link in my comments so we can read it. In the meantime, check out these other childhood faves!

Girl’s Gone Child
Sweetney
Her Bad Mother
Mrs. Flinger
Oh, the Joys
Mamalogues
Izzy Mom

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50 comments
  1. Rhi

    March 28, 2008 at 9:47 am

    I still have my blanky, and my fave doll Muffy. Yes, her name is Muffy.

    But, a Dilly Bar? Tempting! I probably would have given up both Muffy and my Blanky for a Dilly Bar. A red one :)

  2. BethanyWD

    March 28, 2008 at 9:58 am

    My husband still has his childhood “bear” that he allows/forces our son to sleep with.

    I’m not the most sentimental person, so the item that I can’t seem to toss out has nothing to go with a beloved bear or blanket. It’s my scoliosis brace that I wore for three years, from 5th through 8th grade.

    This was a painful time, both physically (the brace made my skin blister and I would sabotage it to be able to spend a day brace-free) and emotionally (I was relentlessly teased and called RoboCop 3). And in the end, it didn’t even serve it’s purpose as I still had to undergo a major spinal fusion surgery at 18. But, each time we move or re-organize, I can’t bring myself to get rid of it. It’s a reminder that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and that there is nothing external that defines who you are as a person.

    Plus, it costs my parents $1,000 and would YOU throw away $1,000?

  3. Spandrel Studios

    March 28, 2008 at 10:40 am

    When I was in kindergarten and had my tonsils removed, my Dad bought me a little toy dachshund that sits on my desk to this day.

  4. FK

    March 28, 2008 at 10:43 am

    Dancer, my stuffed reindeer (who was actually a moose). My mom told me that he came to life on Christmas Eve and was one of Santa’s famous 8 reindeer. She would take him while I was sleeping on Christmas Eve and I’d find him the next morning sitting by the fireplace (he was too tired to make it back up to my bedroom after all that flying!). I thought I was the coolest kid on the planet. But really I just had the coolest mom ever. : )

  5. Gia

    March 28, 2008 at 11:02 am

    As sappy as it sounds, the object I would grab first is the box of old family photos. My parents are divorced, one is remarried, and I cherish the few photos I posess of my original family all happy and smiling. It is a reminder that not all was bad and that despite my parents detesting each other now, I was a product of love. Sorry to get all sentimental on you guys, but I am being honest!!!

    I do sleep with a “teddy” but I replace him every few years with a new one. I suppose you could say I sleep around with my teddies! Ha!

  6. June

    March 28, 2008 at 11:05 am

    Andrea – I have the same thing! My mom made me a Raggedy Ann when I was 3 or 4. I called her “Raggy” and I loved her so much that mom had to patch her and her clothes numerous times and even give her a new face. I think I was in Jr. High or High School before my mom could finally convince me to put her in my memory box to keep her from falling apart!

    My husband still sleeps with “Mr. Bear” and he’s so soft & cuddly I sometimes steal him during the night so I can snuggle him :)

  7. Loralee

    March 28, 2008 at 11:22 am

    Mine is underwear.

    Sad, but true.

    I was glad for the idea, I didn’t know what I was going to write about today. Thanks!

  8. Loralee

    March 28, 2008 at 12:08 pm

    Posting the link would be nice, huh?

    Here you go!

  9. Michelle & the City

    March 28, 2008 at 12:22 pm

    well i had a minnie mouse visor that a tourist STOLE OFF MY HEAD while we were visiting Disneyworld. i still miss that thing.

  10. merrymishaps

    March 28, 2008 at 12:24 pm

    I called my blanket my “ah ah,” probably because you say “ah” as you rub the soft, soft fabric against your face.

    I still have it, in a drawer.

  11. andrea

    March 28, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    I still to this day have my blanket. I think it is probably just like yours but pink with satin edges. It did have an accident with the baseboard heaters when I was four, but beyond that it was my treasured possession and I took great care of it. It is still in the closet in Charlie’s room and I would be devastated if anything ever happened to it. Charlie actually sleeps with Jon’s baby blanket every night, so much for all the lovely hand made ones he received as baby gifts.

  12. Jamie

    March 28, 2008 at 12:38 pm

    The one thing I really treasure from my childhood (other than actual heirloom pieces, like bronzed shoes, etc.) is my blue Popple stuffed animal. I realize this dates me, but it’s true. I love that Popple to this day – in retrospect, I think it was because of its marsupial qualities. It was the first multitasking stuffed animal.

  13. LVGurl

    March 28, 2008 at 1:26 pm

    HA! You giving up your blankie for a dilly bar made me laugh… quite loud :D

    My favorite was a stuffed dog named Drooper. My dad gave me Drooper when I was four. I still have him, I let the girls play with him occassionally. But I’m very protective of my Drooper.

  14. foodmomiac

    March 28, 2008 at 1:27 pm

    I love how sneaky you were!
    My contribution is here: http://www.foodmomiac.com/foodmomiac/2008/03/panda.html

  15. CLK

    March 28, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    Long time reader, first time commenter. I have a stuffed monkey I have had since I was 3. He used to go with me everywhere. I am 28 and married now, and he sits on a rocking chair in a room of our house. He has no real hair/fur left because I overloved him. My husband said he will use that excuse when he loses all his hair.