What personal belongings do you hold most dear?

I feel like I’m supposed to answer this question with an accessible aid, like my most obvious one, my wheelchair. However for me this just isn’t true.

While my wheelchair is of course massively important to me and necessary for my life, she’s called Betci. Quick side note: I know that’s not how you spell that name usually, but I decided as a child that that’s how her name would be spelt and so that’s how it’s spelt.

I’ve often said that for me I’d be more lost without my phone than my chair. As this is how I access the world, through the Internet, in a way that is most accessible to me.

This is part of why I get frustrated when people make ignorant statements like ‘phones are bad’ or ‘social media is bad’. As to me this just simply isn’t true, but I’m getting distracted.

So I could say my phone is one belonging I hold dear, because of what it allows me to do. And the same would apply to my wheelchair. But there are also other objects or belongings that I hold dear that I don’t require in the way I do my phone or my chair.

One such object is my Winnie the pooh Teddy, pictured below.

Now this teddy comes to most places with me at the moment, since my mother’s passing. Usually wrapped in a child’s coat to keep it protected. This is a slightly older photo and there are now these items as well as several more wrapped around Winnie in a variety of ways, that are personal to me as they relate to my mum. So in many ways, Winnie is multiple belongings that are important to me. The teddy itself also has significance, but that’s not something I wish to get into right now.

I don’t know how long I will carry Winnie with me. All I can say right now is that I will carry him with me for the conceivable future.

Let Winnie be your reminder that you should do whatever makes you comfortable in a situation no matter what other people may think.