Meet Brown Teddy. He is sort of part of the story that led me to begin this 365 journey, so it only seemed fitting that he get his own cameo appearance.
When I was a child he was my most precious soft toy. If our house were to burn down in the middle of the night (a great fear of mine at the time that resulted in the installation and regular maintenance of smoke detectors in our house) it wouldn't have mattered to me as long as Brown Teddy survived. We had our escape plan rehearsed and ready - I knew that in event of emergency all I had to do is grab Brown Teddy, open the window next to my bed and jump the 2m to the ground... a few times we were caught by mum in mid practice, she was horrified and made me promise never to jump out the window again. Reluctantly acquiesced but conveniently managed to forget a few day later. In the end it was a fun adventure exercise but I always wonder if mum ever knew the reasons for its origin.
He has been well loved as you can see by his large patched of bare fur, scratched eyes and essentially see-through nose but eventually we grew apart. Big girls aren't supposed to have soft toys you know. However, unlike the thousands (not much of an exaggeration) of other toys that eventually made their way to St Vincent de Paul's, the Salvation Army or baby cousins... I could never truly part with Brown Teddy.
So for the past 15 years or so he has been living in exile, along with a select few special mementos in darkness at the top of my wardrobe. It wasn't until late last year when I was rummaging up there for something or other, I don't remember what, that he fell down and back into my life and I just haven't been able to find the desire to send him back yet.
It just happened to be that at the time I he fell I was in the process of setting up for some Christmas portraits - you know the ones, with fairy lights in the background and some tinsel or a santa hat on your head - so I put him to work as my test dummy. He sat patiently wile I set up the lights, adjusted my exposure settings and measured my focal distance... never once with any complaint. And it was then really that I rediscovered the joy of making a picture and as a result this whole 365 thing started. But we are getting off topic here with all this talk about me... back to Brown Teddy.
It wasn't until a few days ago when I was talking to my mother (who by the way has been mildly amused by Brown Teddy's re-appearance in my life) and fidgeting idly with him in my lap that I realised something quite significant in the life of my special toy...
He used to be a woman.
For the majority of my life he was a she and she had even given birth to baby teddy Honey (note: Brown Teddy is in fact a puppet & honey was perfectly sized to fit in the hole & thus, whether you call it a marsupial pouch, a womb, or a uterus Brown Teddy could be both pregnant and give birth). For all intents and purposes, in my brain, Brown Teddy was a woman. However, since his re-appearance in my life it only seems natural that he be a he. In my mind he is now so male that I find it mind boggling that I could ever have called him a her. Shocking that it took me this long to notice.
Which leads me to the conclusion that Brown Teddy must be F to M transgendered.
And to me that seems pretty damn cool. Go figure.
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This photo was taken this afternoon in my backyard with just natural lighting and a few curves adjustments in post processing.
Darcy's 365 project so far...
I'm glad brown teddy came back into your life.. Thanks for sharing your story.photo shows love
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