The Story of the Blankie

Ian and his beloved Blankie, circa 2004

So many words could describe the "blankie." From the moment this child could grab and hold onto something, it was his yellow blankie. What's really weird about it is that this is the only blanket set I ever bought either one of my boys before they were actually here. I always felt like I'd jinx them if I bought their clothes before they were here, but the cutest little yellow onesie and blanket came in a set from the Disney store and it had Winnie-The-Pooh and a pot of honey embroidered in one corner. It was a match made in heaven. Ian was forever linked to this blanket. By the time it was on its last leg, we had sewn it together on numerous occasions, gone back for it time and again after it had been left at different places and once, my sister and her husband had to break into our house to get the blankie out of the dryer and bring it down to the beach where we were staying. Yes, they actually had permission to break-in. In fact, I told her "Don't you dare come all the way down here without it!" He was about 2 years old at the time and I tell you what, after that fiasco of leaving it in the dryer, I never went anywhere without it again. I think I loved it just as much as he did. No matter how upset he was about something, we'd just throw him his blankie, he'd immediately start sucking his thumb and BAM! it was over. The fit - done. The fight - done. The "waited too long to take a nap and now I'm going to make your life HELL" - done. No, now I know it to be true - I did love the blankie as much as he did, if not more! Anywho, it was not made to last, it was not meant to be. On September 24, 2005 that stupid, monstrous bitch took my baby's blankie from him. I hate her to this day. I rue the day she ever set foot in our tiny town. She swooped down from the skies and destroyed the one thing that meant something to my baby boy, his beloved yellow Pooh Blankie. I'll never forgive Rita for what she did to my baby. OR, OR, the torment she caused me by him not having his blankie during our evacuation. I know for a fact he screamed for over two hours while we were stuck in traffic for 14 hours trying to escape the wrath that would be Hurricane Rita. You see, we had to run and pick him up from Mother's Day Out the day before they called for the official evacuation. In our haste (I take full responsibility) we inadvertently left his blankie in his cubbie at school. I remembered his backpack, his lunch kit but for some weird reason his teacher (who shall remain nameless) did not put his blankie INSIDE his backpack as they had done every day he attended for the previous three, yes, count them, three friggin' years! So off we go, only to realize about 10:00pm as we all lay down to try and get some rest for a few hours, that the blankie was GONE! It is a horrifying realization, the angst building up within me, acid begins to churn in your esophagus and then it begins, the screaming. The incessant, non-stop "I WANT MY BLANKIE" screaming. The only thing that saved us that night (and all days/nights for about four months following that night) was my slip. Yes, my brilliant husband got the bright idea that it was not the actual blankie (even though now Ian says it was) that the child wanted, but the silky edge where he could rub it together and stroke it ever so gently and lightly as he sucked his thumb into his quiet slumber. That old, stinky slip got us out of many a tight spot following the hurricane. Sure we hunted around, called the Disney Corporation, searched every Disney store and outlet between here and Florida, talked to two Disney distributors trying to track down another one but to no avail. How dare they? The injustice of not making the same blanket five years later when a po', po', little boy from Texas would really love one. He has since found solace in a custom-made newbie "blankie" from a local shop where they were only too happy to help Ian out. He hand-picked his fabric and a mere eight weeks later he was the proud owner of the newbie that we have to this day. It stays in the car all day while he's at school (so he can imbibe in his bad habit at the end of his school day) and he never, I repeat NEVER, goes to bed without it. I must say, the loss of the blankie must be worked through just like the loss of other sentimental objects. At first you go through all the usual steps in the grieving process as described by Kubler-Ross but in the end, it's gone. Poof! Gone. Something he has to deal with and we've all had to deal with since that wretched day. We still talk about "Blankie," and probably even a little too much considering it's been well over two years, but I know Ian still yearns for the touch of his beloved and I still yearn for the contentment only a mother could see in her child's eyes.

I know y'all probably did not really want to read or hear about that but I must say it was very cathartic to finally come clean about my real feelings towards the blankie. I feel closure. I feel cleansed. I feel ....... content.