The Tale of The Purple Bear

When my ex (whom I will refer to from here on out as simply "X") and I started dating, he was a real sweetheart. Of course, in the beginning all relationships are pretty good. But X was one of those guys who would do the "little" things that meant  alot. You know, like bring you little token gifts just "because"??

Well, this is about one of those "just because" gifts. You see, we had not been dating more than a couple weeks, I think, when X came over to see me one night. He said he bought me a gift. "Ooh, a GIFT" I thought. "How sweet". He said that while he was out working he happened to be in a store and saw this iten and decide to get it for me. It was a purple stuffed bear. (He knew purple is my favorite color).
Oh, how excited I was. Not because of a silly cheap purple bear, but because he THOUGHT OF ME. I mean he was busy working and still took a few minutes to think of me. (yeah, I know. I was head over heels with this guy so I was easily impressed) and this was the first gift he ever gave me. (and yes, they did get better)
So fast forward several years later, and we are no longer a couple. I am getting rid of some stuff I no longer want or need and some of that "stuff" just happens to be items I had been given by X. Mostly just cards, stuffed animals and stuff like that. I had everything done and was down to this purple bear. I was ready to toss it, but I had only one little thing keeping me from doing so- my cat, Zoe. You see, Zoe LOVED this bear. She would lay on the bed with it and put her little head down on it's back. She would put her paws across it and sleep. She would lay right up against it. I just couldn't do that to her. In essence, it now was Zoe's bear-not mine anymore-and I had no right to take her toy away. So I kept the stupid bear. And that is what I call it -"THE STUPID BEAR". And it sits on my bed everyday. EVERY.DAY.And Zoe is happy. And I love her like a child, so she gets what she wants.

Moing forward with our story, last Monday I decided to go adopt another cat from the Humane Society. If you read my previous post, you know about Ella. Well, Ella is doing very well and adapting to our family very nicely. She also has apparently taken to THE STUPID BEAR. On Christmas Eve, I went into the bedroom for something and noticed the ever-present bear was gone. Now, most people probably wouldn't notice that right away, but you have to understand that this bear has been  a constant reminder of X and my relationship for many years, so for me it's always THERE. Staring up at me. To have it gone was quite noticeable. I went into the living room where my family was gathered and said "You know, it's really weird, but THE STUPID PURPLE BEAR is gone" I don't know where it could be. "Maybe one of the cats took it" my mother said. "Look under the bed". (now at this point Ella was still hiding out under my bed during the day) "That's silly, I said". Why would one of the cats take it?" But I looked under the bed and sure enough-it was there. Ok, kind of weird, but I threw it back on the bed and went back to my family. Later on that evening, I went to turn down the bed and (you guessed it) the bear was gone ,again. SO again, I went under the bed and there it was. Ok, this was getting weird.. I decided to move the bear to a basket I kept in the room for spare throw blankets.
Christmas morning was had a nice breakfast like the good ole' days. My brother nad sister had stayed over and it was just me, my mom, and the two of them. We haven't had a Christmas breakfast like that in years. Afterwards, I went into the bedroom for a book and guess what was gone? Yup, THE STUPID BEAR. Ok, so at this point I was sure I was being messed with. I went straight out to my sister and asked her. "are you guys messing with me?" She looked and me and said "no, not yet, but you never know, we may later." I told her about the MIA bear and she laughed. Of course, it was under the bed. Now since Christmas it has remained in place, so I never caught the responsible party. Until last night. I was sitting  on the bed
with Ella and Zoe. All of a sudden Ella got up and the STUPID BEAR(which is almost as big as her)  jumped off the bed and ran out of the room. I followed her to the living room, where she proceeded to run behind the love seat and then stopped behind the couch. So now I know who my little thief is. And yes, THE STUPID PURPLE BEAR is staying.