Today is my day off and what does a normal person do on a day off? Sleep in. What do I do with my day off? Go for a walk in the cemetery. At the crack of dawn I headed towards St. James cemetery located on Parliament just north of Wellesley.
My original intent on this journey was to find something for my family portraits category. Many family members are plotted next to each other and given the time of year it seemed like a good idea. While I did get some good pictures of family head stones, I found something which was so haunting I could barely stand it.
In anticipation for this project, I bought a book called "Toys Were Us" which gives a complete history of twentieth-century toys. The first toy that the book discusses is "the teddy bear". Before Cabbage Patch Kids and Popples, there were these fuzzy bears. An extremely simple concept, the teddy bear "represents a study in endurance of basic values in a century wrought with change and advanced technology". With the ever changing world of technology, we can always count on the teddy bear to be a childhood comfort.
"Here Lies Theodore"
However this particular teddy gave me anything but comfort. Hunched over, the bear looks weathered, run down, and extremely lonely. He looks like he's mourning the loss of something or someone. Is he sitting with someone he loves or was he abandoned by someone he loves? I don't know. All I know is that it gives me the chills. I love it!
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