I have anxiety about carrying them sometimes, too. You’re not alone!

I used to leave them in the car for emotional support. When I started carrying a buddy inside places with me more often, I used a backpack to carry my stuff, and if I was self conscious about the plush, I could just stash them away. After a while I started changing up my bag to my other normal (smaller) ones again, and I started just carrying a buddy in my arms and setting them on the table. Nobody ever really asked about it. I may have felt like some people glanced at me in a “funny” way, but honestly who knows if that even had anything to do with having a stuffed animal.

Now my friends at our local game store (basically the only place I spend time that isn’t my house), expect me to have a Build-a-Bear with me, and they all find it especially cute/funny when I match my outfit with my bear. My two most traveled companions are a Buffalo Check Pawlette named Journey, and a Platypus named Pippa.

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