At this moment I have in my lap a large chunk of my childhood. But let me back up a bit.

Today is my birthday. My family agreed to not go all-out and extravagant, for financial reasons. I also made a deal with my mother that my biggest (aka most expensive) gift will be a 4-week local theater program this summer. I expected that meant I'd be getting the usual art supplies and $10-$15 bookstore gift cards from my dad and brother. I was pleasantly proved wrong.

The first gift I got was at 12:12 (the exact time I was born) from my brother. He slumped downstairs and handed me a surprisingly heavy package. I expected sketchbooks or something, but when I opened it I saw Giratina looking back at me. My wonderful, loving brother got me Pokemon Platinum and a walk-through the size of a phone book. I'm currently working my way toward my third gym badge.

The second gift was from my father, as we were waiting for dinner to finish grilling. We'd been chatting about my brother's childhood obsession with things that spin, and I mentioned the way I always balanced things on my head, particularly my favorite stuffed animal (a blue pony named Pony - I was two, give me a break.) This elicited knowing looks from the rest of the family, and Mom sent brother upstairs to fetch "the other present". He came back and dropped a black plastic bag on my head - it was Pony!... sort of.

Pony was a Fisher-Price Puffalumps Zebra. I got her at the age of 6 months from my grandmother. She'd come to visit for Thanksgiving and my brother's birthday, which happened to fall in the same week. She was worried that I would feel left out if my brother got all the presents, so she got Pony for me. To quote my harried mother, "She's six months old! How can she know what jealousy is?!" But Pony and I bonded, and for as far back as I can remember, she was my constant companion.

When I say I took that thing everywhere, I meant it. I can't remember a time before she was any color other than fades blue and yellowed white. She'd also had her head and legs stitched back on several times, with varying success. It was because of this that at the ripe old age of eleven-ish I retired Pony to the Shelf of Honor, alongside my stature of the Sacred Heart and my marbles tournament trophy. Fisher-Price discontinued that line a few years ago, and I thought I'd never see one again.

My incredible, wonderful, lovable dad tracked one down on eBay for - get this - $13! Apparently it arrived sometime back in February, but they hid it in my (also much beloved) mother's nightstand. It's been a rough couple of months, so apparently my parents have been debating whether to give it to me during one of the recent times of stress, or save it for my birthday, or graduation, or going off to college, or moving out, or marriage, etc.

Here is the pic from the auction: [link]

So, after umpteen years of begging and wheedling, my parents finally got me a pony for my birthday. And I don't even need to look for a stable!
~rae