How might we find ways to care for our loved ones throughout our lives by looking at the ways we learned care through play as children?

My family has always understood our pets to be equal members to the family as we humans. For the majority of my childhood, I grew up with Mimi (an American Short Hair cat we rescued as a kitten in 2011), Fiona (a Flat Coat Retriever rescued as a puppy in 2013), and Blu (a Basset Hound rescued at age 5 or 6 in 2017).

During my sophomore year at Oberlin in Spring 2023, Blu was very sick at home. While she did not pass until Summer 2024, it was the first time I came to realize the mortality of my pets would be more and more apparent in the upcoming years.

To cope and navigate these feelings, I created 3 scrappy stuffed animals of my pets. Growing up, I adored stuffed animals. I would play with them constantly, often playing veterinarian in the living room by tying the curtains into a knot and placing a pillow in them for my stuffed animal patient to sit in.

I crafted my beloved pets out of recycled fabrics in a patchwork manner and once again tied a window curtain, placed a pillow from my dorm bed within, and carefully arranged them within.