Dover Trip - With Pookie

(Topic: Weighted Bears, adventures/travel)

Hi Friends!

Lately hubby and I have been travelling a lot (work, mostly) so while he's busy, Pookie and I explore! If you haven't met Pookie, he is a weighted bear representing our son Charlie (you can read more about our loss story by clicking on the tab at the top of the page for Who is Charlie?). Pookie, however, has developed his own character, and it's fun to have him go on pretend adventures with me while we explore. Honestly, it's less lonely, even if I do get some strange looks sometimes...

One of our recent trips was to Dover and New Philadelphia in Ohio, and I had a whole morning to explore. Not only were they quite lovely towns, we also stopped at a park that Pookie particularly enjoyed - because I read him a book while we walked! It was a pretty cool idea, actually, that I think other libraries could mimic in other communities.

Essentially, a book was deconstructed, and the pages were arranged on pedestals like this along a walking path (in this case, around a pond). It wasn't a long path, so it would be very easy for a toddler or small child to have the stamina to go all the way around, especially with the incentive of the story!

Pookie enjoying the sun :)

We saw this really neat dragonfly!

While tigers are our main symbol for Charlie, dragonflies catch our eye too, for two reasons. While hubby and I were still dating, he got me a gorgeous pair of earrings with blue dragonflies, but then the summer that we first visited Charlie in the cemetery, there were little blue dragonflies everywhere all the time. Haven't seen them since, interestingly. So now dragonflies are a bit of a secondary symbol, reminding us of Charlie.

This lovely tree tunnel caught my eye. I love geometry in photos....

I carry Pookie in a baby carrier - since he weighs as much as a baby, he can get pretty tough on the arms after a while! This makes it a lot easier. Downsides are that it gets hot where he's against my front, and that people's weird looks get stronger.... If they ask, I am upfront about explaining what Pookie represents, but not many people actually ask.

There are a couple videos below... it was a lovely day. Enjoy!

Yours,

Sarah

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