The Teddy Bear Picnic

Chronic pain and mental illness can pile on a lot of stress by themselves. Put them together, and add on a couple of layers of everyday life and you have enough anxiety to make anyone want to go back to their childhood.

Well, today I did just that. I took Kay’s son to my church for the annual Teddy Bear Picnic. I was taking him because he needs to spend more time with kids his age, but deep down I was doing it for me too. I just needed to be surrounded by a lot of “happy” and what can be more happy than a bunch of kids toting around a bunch of stuffed animals.

I remember going to such a party in my kindergarten class. We sang the “Teddy Bear Picnic” song, heard stories, ate food and just had a lot of fun.

Then in my 20’s I was asked to speak at a similar event at the church I was attending. I told the story of MY first picnic and introduced the kids to all my stuffed bears. Yes, I had a lot of them back then!

So the chance to go with a kid in tow was very inviting! We had a great time – I am not sure which of us enjoyed it more! He got his face painted (I didn’t), made a teddy bear hat (I helped), played in the playground while I chatted and watched. He had a hot dog while I had some watermelon and a muffin, and we both talked all the way home about it.

Whether our stress is caused by pain, illness, mental illness, financial or personal problems, or we don’t even have stress (is that possible?), I think we all need a Teddy Bear Picnic to remind us of a time when things were so much easier. You don’t even have to have a Teddy Bear really, just sit back and let your mind take you there.

If you are having problems with your outer adult, then why not bring out your inner child!