My Snuggle Bear

by Sarah Morgan
(NJ, USA)

About six months after I had started dating my boyfriend, I was going away for three weeks. This was going to be the longest amount of time we were going to be apart since we started dating. I was worried that the time and distance, although temporary, would cause us to fight and possibly break up. The relationship was still new, and three weeks seemed like a long time. My boyfriend knew that I was worried. He kept trying to calm me down, but nothing worked. The day I was leaving, I walked out of my house to get into my car so I could leave on the trip. There was a purple (my favorite color) box waiting on my car. I opened it. Inside, I found a teddy bear panda and a card. The card revealed that the surprise gift was from my boyfriend. It had a note in the card telling me to take the panda with me on my trip. If I started missing my boyfriend, I was supposed to snuggle the panda. The card also told me how much he cared about me and how there was no need for me to worry about us as a couple; we would make it through the three weeks. Throughout my trip, I took pictures of me and the panda and text messaged them to him. Overall, the surprise panda bear was a romantic, thoughtful gift that ended up bringing my boyfriend and I closer together.