Chloe
On July 24, 2019 by Keturah HaferkampChloe is a sleeping bear. Her eyes are always closed. She is a round and plush, pillowy soft comfort. I sorely underestimated what she would come to mean to our family.
One of the sweet gems of travel is collecting things: experiences, recipes, friendships. Chloe fits somewhere in the friendship category I think.
My daughter spotted Chloe in the basement of a popular grocery store in Beijing. We were traipsing around in the hot, humid muck of the day and ducked into one of the underground walkways that turns into a shopping center.
Beijing has several underground air-conditioned walkways. It was summer 2017 and it was HOT. One friend affectionately called it “the sauna.”
That day we were trying to beat the heat. We walked til we stumbled upon a shop of stuffed animals. They lined the walls: shelves and rows of bears, pigs, seals, pandas, walruses stacked all the way up to the ceiling.
Our daughter, the homebody and lover of all things home, was homesick. Any traveler knows the pang of the absence of the familiar. We were only about 1 week in and she was overcome with “missing home.” We’d brought photos, music and stuffed animals from home for the lull that happens right after the initial excitement for the new place wears off. But her connection to space is strong and her need for connection to and grounding in the new place came a lot earlier than I had anticipated. She needed what we call “a saudade friend.”
We bought the (larger than her luggage) bear to help soothe an aching heart. But now that Chloe has been part of our daily American life, she mostly makes us remember China. She’s our family’s “saudade bear.” Like a stuffed animal scrap book, she calls to mind family inside jokes and stories of “remember when”; she sparks conversation and enlivens our imaginations (what do you think a bear that sleeps all day does all night when the rest of us are sleeping?)
So Chloe came into our lives that day and she has enriched our lives ever since. We all love her.
A few days ago I asked my other daughter what she was looking forward to on her visit to China this fall. “I really want a Chloe,” she said.
I wonder what new friend will join our family this time.