Washing Harold

Dear Liza,

Our stufftie buddy Harold has had a busy life down in San Diego. He has been an emotional support stufftie for Madi, who is just your age and has needed lots of hugs. He has been to sleep-overs and out on bike rides through the neighborhood.

It was time for a bath. The problem is, Harold’s body is made of a knitted chenille fabric which has gotten very threadbare over the years, and we were afraid the usual washing techniques might be too much for him. So washing machine, or even hand-washing, were out.

He got baking soda. Put in a bag, sprinkled with baking soda and shaken gently, Harold looked, for a while, like a dusty snowman. I took him out on the balcony to shake him off so I didn’t make drifts in the house.

He was much cleaner, but his face, which had gotten lots of post-cheerleading, make-up laden hugs, was still schmutzy.

I rubbed gently with some dish soap, pulling off layers of color, and eventually knew I had to stop.

Here is our boy as he is, happy to be home, much loved, and a bit cleaner. He doesn’t look like he did fifteen years ago, but who does?

None of us can be bathed back in time.

Love,

Grandma Judy