A "Happy" Reunion

When our oldest was very little, 5 or so, she had a best friend named “Happy.” Happy was a stuffed rabbit. All little girls loved stuffed rabbits, but this one was special. This one, she was able to buy with her “own” money. She bought it for pocket change at a thrift store, but because she did it on her own, this was one special item.

Over the next few years, LoriAnn and Happy were inseparable. Waking or sleeping, Happy was with her. That might be why things went bad. The working theory is that one day while out garage sale-ing, Happy slipped out the door at one stop or another. But whatever happened, Happy was gone. (LoriAnn thinks he was kidnapped!).

We looked everywhere to find another rabbit like that one. No luck. In fact, for the last dozen or so years, I’ve looked in antique shops, thrift stores, online stores, etc. I even posted a description and a fuzzy picture on eBay to see if anyone had one for sale. Nothing.

Until recently. Happy was found online (actually, a new rabbit identical to the old one. He brother even offered to roll it in the dirt to make it look like the old one, but…) We snapped it up as soon as we saw it, and had it shipped ASAP.

As soon as it arrived, on my day off, I drove all the way to College of the Ozarks to facilitate the reunion. Below are the text messages that happened on that day as I was preparing for delivery.

Me to LoriAnn:

LoriAnn to Me:
EEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!!!!

Me to LoriAnn:

LoriAnn to Me:

Me to LoriAnn as we arrived on campus:

And here’s the end result.

Happy is home and LoriAnn is happy. We’re all happy.

I know this all sounds odd, but you have no idea what that thing meant to her, and the lengths we went to in order to find a replacement. After all these years to finally find him, well it was a “Happy” Reunion!