"Is it alright if Bun Bun is in the pictures?"

Bun Bun

What the hell is a Bun Bun?

I look down at the little two year old with eyes too big for his face in front of me.

There in his arms is a rabbit.

It is stuffed.

In a moment of clairvoyance I see this creature's future stretched out in front of me.

Twenty years before in a past life Bun Bun was Bunny, the crocheted rabbit that my daughter could not live without.

Bunny went everywhere and my daughter was never without him.

By the time my daughter was four we had scoured the planet for a replacement bunny as we watched him disintergrate before our eyes.

When we found one I explained to Em that we had to take Bunny to the vet and the switch was made.

As the years went by Bunny's ears doubled in length from being carried by them.

My daughter is now in her last year of college, but if you go in her room and check under her pillow bunny is still there.

I was going through a box of photos and came across a portrait studio photo of Em and Bunny.

Em is three. Pale bruises all over her legs and forced into a dress for pictures.

We had tried to get the Bunny out of the photos but it just caused tears.

We came to a compromise. Bunny will sleep in a wicker pram pushed by Em for the photo.

I laugh as I realize staring at this photo that bunny use to be white not grey, and have a hat, and a dress, and eyes for that matter.

It has been so long living with disfigured bunny I forgot what he originally looked like.

As I stare down at this little boy dragging around his best friend I tell him, "Yes! Bun Bun is welcome in the photos!"

I smile and know that 20 years from now as he is in college his mother is going to look at this photo and smile a big smile as she says, "Oh look Bun Bun use to have a nose."

Family 2017-58