She doesn't look too bad for a thirty mumble year old dog though, don't you agree...

I think we all have that one toy, don't we?  The favoured toy that, no matter how old we get, we just can't seem to get rid of?  It survives the annual toy donations to charity when we're children, gets spared in the moving-out-of-home culling, and the next thing you know you're a thirty mumble year old woman with a stuffed dog that lives under her coffee table and guards the remote controls.

Or is it just me?

That toy, for me, is my yellow stuffed dog called Kimmy.  I have this vague recollection of naming her that after a little girl who lived across the street, because she had yellow hair, and the dog was yellow ... well it made sense to me at the time.

God, but I loved that dog.  Still do, if I'm being completely honest.  I slept with her every night for years, and even now if I'm feeling sad hugging her will always make me feel better.  She's that little link to my childhood, and I love her to bits.

So I was understandably shocked when, while wandering around on eBay, I stumbled across someone who is selling "Vintage Dakin Drooper Dogs".  

Aren't they cute?

Huh, so that's what they were called, I never new that!

And they're selling quite a lot of them too.  eBay has 46 of them listed!  Where on earth did they manage to get so many stuffed dogs made in the 70's in pristine condition?  Was someone hoarding them somewhere and they thought now would be the perfect time to try and offload them on eBay for thirty bucks a piece?  

Is there a huge market for thirty year old stuffed toys made of highly flammable materials?

It was a bit of a shock to see the picture though.  It's been well over thirty years since my Kimmy looked anything like that.  Over time her fur has gotten quite pilled, and she's lost her eyebrows and nose.  Not to mention the stitches on her lower back where, at the age of eight, I had to do some emergency surgery and red cotton was all I could find in Mum's sewing box.

I still think you're beautiful, Kimmy

The funny thing is, until I saw the picture on eBay, it never even occurred to me that she was looking old and worn.  I didn't notice the stretched out ears, the grubby fur, or the white cloth starting to show at the seams.  To me, she was just the same as when I was a toddler.

I guess it's true what they say, love is blind.