being real

elmer

The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.


"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. 

And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive.

But the Skin Horse only smiled.

excerpt ~ the velveteen rabbit

by margery williams

1922

did you have a rabbit or skin horse or perhaps a leopard like elmer?

elmer came to me one christmas morning when i was about 6 years old ...

i remember vividly pulling him out of that long box and into my arms.

we were inseparable.

he had a zipper and a pouch for my jammies,
but i never put anything in his pouch ...

for me he was someone to cuddle with every single night.

in fact the crook of his neck made a perfect pillow
for many a dreamy sleep ...

and yes, i asked god to bless elmer in my bedtime prayers

along with my 'mommy and daddy, tommy, ronny and all the people in the world' ...
and our dog, ralph, of course!

elmer left home when i did
and has been close by ever since ...

i knew i wanted to take his pic for this post

and when i pulled him out from his safe keeping spot beneath our bed,

i got that same indescribable feeling for my dearest friend ...

i was so tickled at how vivid the colour of his nose, his one eye, tongue and collar were ...
i noticed the thread bare seam on his back splitting slightly more than before ...

elmer is even more beautiful than i remembered ...
worn from love ...

and so very, very real.

.

to the world you may be one person
but to one person you may be the world
~author unknown
.

be kind and gentle and true to you ...

you are really loved.

xo