Pooh is another childhood plushie of mine. I believe I received him after I got heart surgery, but I may be wrong. I loved him as a kid, but as I got older, I started to drift away from all my old childhood stuffed animals, except for Panda, who has stayed with me my whole life.

When I got to college, the only stuffed animal I had was Panda, and Pooh was sent to the storage closet in my family's house. I'm honestly surprised they didn't throw away many of my plushies, considering how much they wanted to before. Nevertheless, after a lot of stressful events happened, my egg cracked, and I realized I was trans right before coming back home for the summer. I had started HRT a little beforehand and was in a critical time in my transition while also dealing with the living situation back home.

That summer, I slept on a mattress on the floor in a house infested with cockroaches and ants. Every night, they would crawl on me or bite me, and it drove me crazy, especially since HRT was making me more emotional. I ended up crying every single night, sometimes twice a day, and as much as I love Panda, he is a small stuffed animal, and it caused me to feel really touch-starved.

One day, I saw that my dad's pit bull had pulled out Pooh from the box containing my stuffed animals and had ripped his crotch up and was biting it. I brushed the dog aside, brought Pooh back to my room so that he could be safe, and then got super emotional after reuniting with one of my favorite stuffed animals. I then would hold him tight every time I was under emotional distress, crying my eyes out in his arms. He is a firm plushie, and he feels nice to press against. After that incident, I decided I would never leave him behind again.

His name is Pooh more so because of his shirt rather than because he is from Winnie the Pooh, lol. I was young, so I just saw the word "Pooh" on his shirt and decided that was his name.