The Plush Baby Seal I No Longer Own

I have a long history with the plush baby seal in the photo above, shown with my Moonshadow cat.

It first was intended as a gift for a friend in England, but the package got lost on its way to her. So I bought a second one and sent it off — and then the first package got returned to me.

So what to do with seal #1? I thought maybe my mom would like it, so I gave it to her — and it was a huge hit. So much so that when Mom died, I couldn't quite give the seal away. For years, it sat on my dryer — the best place I could find for it, but not really a good place. I didn't have a good place for it.

Until last week, that is. Last week, I had house guests from France — including two boys, age 10. They glommed onto the seal at first sight, and it spent a week sharing a double bed with them.

So as they got ready to leave, I gave them the seal. It got squished into a suitcase for a flight to New York, and will soon be going to its new home in Brittany.

And I couldn't be happier.

So sometimes we declutter because a possession finds its perfect new home, when we least expect it.