Dan of DCR Blogs made a new Meme a week or two ago called Bring Out Your Bears. The point was to get bloggers to show off their favorite childhood stuffed animal or bear.
My childhood bear is a little yellow bear named Toto. You might be thinking he was named after Toto the dog from Wizard of Oz- he’s not. I was born in Chicago and for some odd reason my Mother took me to a Korean church nearby. This is not a bad thing per say, but I want to point out that most of the services were held entirely in the Korean language. My Mom and I are not Korean (nor my Dad) and we don’t speak the Korean language. I believe she went there because her best friend attended church there. Looking back at the time I think we were the only white people who were in attendance. I think this was perhaps because of the language barrier- not any other reason, because they were a great bunch of people. The point is that you don’t have to be like everyone or associate with people who are exactly like yourself to enjoy great friendships, neighbors, or even worship together. Anyway, a wonderful man named Toto who was a church attendee there gave me my yellow bear- which I named Toto after him.
Toto and I had a full childhood together, I took him everywhere. Including an 18 month long trip in a carpeted van across the United States. Toto has been to almost every state in the United States including Alaska… at the time he said- he likes to travel.
When I was seventeen, my live in boyfriend moved down to Florida with a couple of friends to look for work. 
We were living in Connecticut at the time and the economy sucked… just like today! I had a job at a restaurant but he couldn’t find employment, so he went down there for about a month to check things out. Toto went along (he liked to travel remember) with him. Anyway while he was there Toto stayed with my boyfriend, my boyfriends friend, his friend’s sister and her friend. Needless to say these two girls liked to drink and act like idiots. During drinking one night they decided that Toto needed a butt hole so they burnt one on his bottom with their cigarettes. Fortunately they did not burn through to his stuffing and I managed to cut most of the charred teddy bear fluff off- but Toto has never been the same.
For one he no longer likes to travel. Two, he’s kind of militant about not smoking. The other personality change I noticed after the charred bottom incident is- he is wary of females besides me. I want to point out too that he is a very private teddy and has only agreed to tell his story on the Internet because I first leaked it online in a comment on Daddy Papersurfers site…his bear met a similar fate.
So now you know that sad horrible tale of my bear Toto- if you would like to show off your bears or stuffed animals please do… I won’t tag anyone because I never know who wants to participate.
Are naked teddy bear bottoms safe for work?
BTW, the link you put up on Twitter doesn’t work. I had to go to the home page and find the article there. Do you know how much work that is?
LOL! its very sad that he was burned in the ass but it makes for an oh so hilarious story
Dan – you spend to much time on twitter- you are getting weird.
Yes teddy bear bottoms are safe for work in this context- this is like showing a medical procedure like hemorrhoid removal or colon cleanse ;0P
The pictures of Toto during his full monty days as a guest stripper for Thunder Down Under are locked away in my safety deposit box. The ladies could not get enough of Toto! Those would be Not Safe For Work.
Hi Sarah- ha ha NOT says Toto, he said it took years of rehabilitation to finally sit down properly again. He says this is why he don’t like female people anymore ’cause you find this funny!
LOL. What do you mean Dan is “getting” weird? Heehee. That is traumatic for poor Toto! Teenage girls can be so cruel! I can see why that boyfriend didn’t last. Your hair looks strawberry blonde in that picture – did you change it? I need to start our email up again. I have just been kind of out of it lately. But I feel it coming back.
Great post! That’s hilarious-well, sad for what happened to Toto, but funny at the same time.
You and Teeni are just jealous because I have more followers than the two of you combined.
What an unpleasant thing to do to something that obviously means such a lot to someone else. You were very brave to part with Toto for so long in the first place I think and it’s such a shame that he was mistreated. I would have been devastated if that had been Little White, who was my Toto equivalent.
I will never recover after reading this extremely disturbing article. LOL
Teeni my hair looks different because I just did my roots.
Heather thanks for dropping by … your blog is cool but I would say that since I am partial to vintage.
Jenny- I actually don’t think I was brave, he got left in the car when dillhole went down to Florida… I say dillhole not because I hate my ex, but because he was the idiot that let Toto get his bum burned!
Bobby- oddly enough I think a lot of people have said that after reading your blog !
Dan- I think Twitter is going to your head…. must stay focused, must stay focused on blogging. Must leave that nasty twittering alone….
Return from the Dark Side Young Padawan Dummy