My sister and I used to make pretend stories with our stuffed animals. They would play
games together, they got into arguments, and they needed band aids when they got
their flu shots.

Recently, one of my friends lent me some books, and the requested form of payment
was pictures of penguin plushes.

I ended up taking a lot of them.

My mom asked me if I could add some of my pictures to the blog because she thought
they were very funny. At first, I was against it, because I felt like it was a little off-topic
(not to mention embarrassing). But when I thought about it more, I figured that a lot of
the reason I take penguin pictures is because of Natalie.

When I’m making goofy pictures with plushes, there’s a part of me that feels happy
because it’s like what I used to do with Natalie. Even if she isn’t here to play with me,
the feelings we shared when we made our stuffed animal stories together are still there.

I don’t want to let that feeling go. I suspect that if I get to be a hundred years old, I’ll still
be patting her elephant plushes on the head whenever I pass them by.

So I’ll keep taking pictures of my penguins. They’ll get to go on the adventures, get up to
all the mischief, and have all the arguments that I never had with Natalie. But in a way, I
know she’s still here. I know because otherwise, I wouldn’t still be taking the pictures at
all.

Also, sometimes it’s nice just to be childish again.

Look forward to seeing more penguin pictures in future posts!