The Story of the Little Acrylic Bear

Let me to introduce you to this little guy, a 6-inch bear figurine. He’s been a companion of ours for nearly 34 years. The stories he could tell . . .

On Valentine’s Day, 1985, a skinny 22-year-old college senior plucked the bear off a Hallmark store shelf for $1.99 and bought a single rose. It was a snatch and grab. Not much thought to it. In and out of the store in less than 5 minutes. He then took a young lady for a first Valentine’s Day date to the Red Lobster in Ballwin, Missouri. The skinny guy tipped 20%. He must have been trying to impress her.

On Valentine’s Day, 1986, the little acrylic bear was perched atop a window sill in a two-bedroom apartment in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The bear saw the skinny guy, now married to that same young lady. They are sitting on a second-hand mattress on the floor of the “master bedroom” enjoying their 3 sons: 2 boys from her prior marriage and a newborn. A Valentine’s Day date to Red Lobster? Totally out of the question.

On Valentine’s Day, 1988, the little plastic bear sat on a cardboard box (the dresser, of sorts) in the living room of an apartment in Chesapeake, Virginia. The young lady nursed a newborn daughter. The skinny guy was working. He wasn’t home much—2 jobs and graduate school.

By Valentine’s Day, 1992, the bear had graduated to sitting on a real bedroom dresser in a duplex in Columbia, Missouri. The young lady was rocking, cradling her pregnant abdomen. #5, another daughter, was due any day. The skinny guy was nowhere to be seen—a medical student; on call again. “Valentine’s Day” would wait until the next clinical rotation.

Valentine’s Day, 1998, the bear is nowhere to be seen. He’s packed up in a crate somewhere between Florida and Italy. But he was there in spirit. The household was in disarray. The not-so-young lady and the not-so-skinny guy were very excited about the upcoming move to Italy. A new adventure awaited.

Valentine’s Day 2004, the bear sat on the bedroom dresser in Swansea, Illinois. The formerly young lady wrote the formerly skinny guy an email wishing him a Happy Valentine’s Day. He was deployed and wouldn’t be home for several weeks.

Valentine’s Day 2019: The acrylic bear still occupies a place on the bedroom dresser in Swansea. The formerly young lady enjoys her grandchildren and the formerly skinny guy is working again. But the formerly skinny guy will be home soon to enjoy his formerly young wife.

This little ursine fellow has been there for nearly every Valentine’s Day the lady and guy have had together—34 total. And if he could talk I’m sure he’d remark that this formerly skinny guy and formerly young lady are a good match and very much in love with each other. And he’d be proud that he had a small part in that.

Happy Valentine’s Day Diana! I love you!