Is it weird to rescue and fix up an abandoned stuffed animal?
I passed by an abandoned stuffed panda in a parking lot today, and found myself feeling really sad about it. I always loved stuffed animals as a kid, and still have a few that I was particularly attached to when I was young. So seeing one abandoned and no longer loved made me so sad.
It was kind of dirty from being on the ground and missing an eye, and I ended up leaving it at first. But I couldn’t shake the feeling of sadness about it, so I ended up going back and bringing it home. I put it through the washing machine twice (once with bleach and once without) to make sure it was thoroughly clean and sanitized, got some new eyes and a new nose at a local craft store, replaced them, and sewed it back up. It feels kind of weird to want to help a stuffed animal that’s been abandoned, but it made me happy to be able to transform and repair it. I feel kind of insecure that this brought me joy, so is this weird?