The wait was too much. Lieutenant Teddy was reeling around in mind. The sting of leaving him behind was too much to bear, so I ran back up to my room to retrieve him and till this day, Lieutenant Teddy sits on my bed in my dorm. I still can’t believe I thought I could go away to college without him. After all, who was going to cuddle with me or watch over me while I sleep?
Ever since 9/11, I’ve had Teddy. When I was little, I always thought of him as my protector. I had been really shaken up by the terrorist attack, but with Lieutenant Teddy by my side, I would never have to be afraid.
Going away to college and settling into a home away from home can be hard for some students. With a little help from a stuffed animal, blanket, pillow or even a sweater, students at the University of Tampa have found settling into school to be a lot easier.
Sitting on her polka dotted bed, 21-year-old Brittany Martino squeezed her eyes shot and hugged her pillow to her chest with a smile that reached from ear to ear. She then fluffed it and put it behind her head as she leaned against the wall, never losing that grin. This wasn’t just any ordinary pillow, though. Brittany, a senior and biology major at UT, has had this pillow since she was a little girl. “I’ve had it practically my whole life!” Brittany said. The down-feathered pillow, given to her by her parents, means a lot to her. After all, it was their pillow first. It’s her one reminder of home and of her parents, whom she is very close to.
Surprisingly, the pillow is wrapped in not just one or two pillowcases, but four. “Without the pillowcases, my face would be poked by feathers all night long!” exclaimed Brittany. Even with age, the pillow is still really comfortable and has to be at least on her bed in order for her to fall asleep. “I don’t know why I love it so much, but I do,” Brittany said. “But let’s be serious, I brought a 15-year-old pillow with me to college, so I must really love it.” If she were to lose it, she would be really sad. It just doesn’t compare to her other pillows that are on her bed.
“Mine sounds like a love story, but it’s really not,” Lauren Kowal, a junior advertising and public relations major, said. Lauren has Rico, a grey and white koala, from Build-A-Bear. She got Rico with her ex-boyfriend a few years ago. He wears a yellow and blue striped shirt with a white collar and sits on her bed. In Rico’s paw, there’s a button that makes him growl. According to Lauren, “Rico keeps the monsters away. People think I’m crazy when I say that, but I tell them I haven’t been attacked yet, so it works!”
Lauren likes to hold things when she sleeps, especially Rico. She even brings him home when she goes back for winter break. “He comes with me on long trips, but he holds down the fort when I go home sometimes on the weekend,” said Lauren.
For 20-year-old Jessica Redmond, sleeping alone is not an option. Every night she has to sleep with her father’s jersey. Travelling around the world for work, he would be gone from anywhere between two weeks to one month. It was a long time for a little girl to be without her dad and she didn’t have any way to cope with his disappearance until her dad gave her that olive green and tan jersey. “Basically, I would cry when my dad would leave [to travel for work]. He said to me, ‘Always wear it and sleep with it when I’m gone.’” Since then, she hasn’t been able to sleep without it. Jessica, a junior and graphic design major at UT, has had her “jumper” since she was seven.
Sleeping with the sweater is like snuggling with her parents, Jessica said. When she was little, she used to cuddle with them at night, so it’s like old times when she wraps it around her or even when she puts it on at school. Occasionally she washes it, but for the most part she stores it in her bed. It used to smell like her dad, but through the years it has lost its scent, but not its meaning to her.
Rae Lurie, a sophomore and psychology major, was 18 years old when she got Lovepug, a stuffed pug with a little pug in its mouth, on Valentine’s Day from her daddy. Every Valentine’s Day, her dad always buys her a stuffed dog. So far, she has Lovepug, Pugsley, another regular stuffed animal; and Maggie, a breathing stuffed dog. “Whenever someone is having a bad day, I let them play with Lovepug,” said Rae. “He just seems to make our days better.” Sometimes Rae’s roommates find comfort in Lovepug and hug him while others find comfort in throwing him across the room, but he always finds his way back to Rae.
While at UT, Lovepug sleeps on Rae’s bed with her. They cuddle together; he’s her “snuggle-bug.” Some nights he winds up on the floor, but that makes her upset, so she tries to keep him on her bed for the most part. She’s always had a stuffed animal to sleep with, but there’s something about Lovepug that the others can’t compare to. “I left Lovepug here over spring break and it just wasn’t the same snuggling with Valentine’s Day boxer dog,” said Rae.
Sophomore and pre-law major Marlea Hayes is one girl who’s not ashamed to bring her baby blanket with her to UT. “My parents always said that I would never go to college with it because I would be too embarrassed, but here I am and here it is,” said Marlea while holding the blanket. Her off-white blanket with a blue border and hearts also has squares filled with a duck, a teddy bear, a rocking horse, a train and a jack-in-the-box. The blanket goes everywhere with her. It’s been that way since her parents put it in her crib when she was a baby. “I don’t go anywhere without it. I even brought it with me on my cruise over spring break,” Marlea said. “It’s a comfort thing.”
After almost having the blanket for 20 years, it only has one hole and that’s in the corner. The hole is big enough for her to fit her thumb in it, and Marlea came to the conclusion that it must be because she always hugs it in that same spot. Through this bond with her baby blanket, she hopes to one day find the company, so that her child will have one of its own. “I want to try to find the company and get one for my child because I love my blanket that much,” said Marlea.
Kitty White, also known as Hello Kitty, belongs to Ashley Bernstein, a sophomore and psychology major at UT. Kitty is originally from London, she speaks the Queen’s English, and her height is five apples and her weight is three apples. “I’ve always had Kitty. I’ve collected her over the years because I have multiple Hello Kitties,” said Ashley. For Ashley, Hello Kitty is a friend connection. She and her two best friends bond over Hello Kitty and bring one of their many Hello Kitty mementos with them when they travel.
Walking into Ashley’s dorm room, Hello Kitty is plastered everywhere. From her sorority paddle that hangs in the common room to her Hello Kitty belly washer caps, Hello Kitty stuffed animals, a computer case and even erasers that she can change outfits. “It helps me sleep knowing they are there,” Ashley said.
A stuffed, little dog named Boo helps freshman and elementary education major Jen Kimmel sleep through the night. “I’ve had him forever, so I just can’t live without him,” said Jen. Her parents gave her the brown and tan pooch when she was four years old; it was one of her Hanukkah presents. Since then, Jen doesn’t sleep without him. If she sleeps over at a friend’s room and doesn’t have Boo, she has to borrow one of her friend’s stuffed animals in order to fall asleep. According to Jen, “I feel incomplete with him.”
Together, they’ve had their best of times and their worst of times. One of the worst of times was when Jen accidently threw up on him. That was the one and only time she actually had to wash him. Before that, she never had a reason to. “I’ve never washed him, except that one time I threw up on him. That was bad,” Jen laughed. She has true commitment to this dog. Even though Boo’s left ear is ripped and his head flops over because his neck is so squished, Jen plans on keeping him forever. “I’m going to have Boo even when I’m married,” said Jen.
Sitting at a picnic bench in front of Straz, Hannah Phillips, a freshman and elementary education major, giggled as she talked about her what used to be pink pillow. “Even its pillowcase with hearts is falling apart and fading,” said Hannah. As a gift from her mom when she was born, Hannah has kept her pillow on her bed over the past 19 years. “I could sleep without it, but I sleep better with it,” Hannah said.
There was one time, though, in Hannah’s life when she didn’t have her pillow. Her mother had a falling out with a friend and Hannah accidently left it at the woman’s house. According to Hannah, “The woman held my pillow hostage and so my mom had to go over there and fight for it.” Hannah, a little girl at the time, had been so upset and didn’t understand how a grown woman could do that to a child. However, no matter the reason, Hannah’s just been happy to have her pillow back ever since. And she’s never letting it go.
There’s comfort in bringing keepsakes from home that keep us tied to a memory, a scent or even a familiar face. It’s like an old photograph, but rather something we can actually hold on to and snuggle with it during those long, lonely nights. While some may say that it’s childish, it’s that meaning of that stuffed animal, pillow, blanket or even that sweater that gets us through the excruciating school year that makes it OK.
Thank you Stef for this wonderful article. I work in teddy bear therapy and would love to share your story about Lieutenant Teddy. I would like to ask you personally if you could send me an email at your convenience. Thank you again. Tammy