Claudia Henock  – On Remembering Four-Legged Friends, Both Real and Plush

Claudia Henock 0:05
Hi, everyone, welcome to Your Most Precious Thing, the show that talks about the stories about items we hold near and dear to our hearts. I’m your host, Claudia Henock. And let’s meet our guest for this week.

Claudia Henock 0:20
It’s me. Hi. I’m your guest this week. Okay, so I got the bad Taylor Swift joke out of the way. I wanted to do something a little bit special this week since I really didn’t have a guest planned for this week. So it’s gonna be solo episode.

Claudia Henock 0:40
Well, let’s start with a little introduction then. For people who don’t know me, hi, my name is Claudia Henock. I am a podcaster and a digital marketing specialist based in the DC area. I’m also a very chaotic creative who is a very passionate podcaster and likes to be a good storyteller. I originally started this podcast because one, I wanted to start my own show, and two, I was inspired by all the old items that came in, through my time during Goodwill, and all the stories and all the connections I’ve heard from people. And just thinking about the stories or the lives of the items I’ve seen. So that’s why I started this podcast. And like everyone I’ve had on the show so far, I also have a few precious items my own, and I want to talk about one of them today.

Claudia Henock 1:38
But first, I do want to give a little bit of context. So a few years ago, back in New York City, there used to be what we call a Disney Store. This was before the Disney Store became only an online store, but there used to be multiples of physical Disney Stores all around the country, including one in Times Square in New York City. When I was younger, I had the opportunity to visit one of them with my mom in Times Square. It was a huge store with two floors full of like the latest Disney merchandise, both of the old school classic characters, and then the merchandise for the movie that was coming out during that time.

Claudia Henock 2:26
But the one thing I do remember, was in the back of the store on the second floor, there was a giant mountain full character plushies. It could be a Mickey Mouse plush, and Minnie plush, Daffy Duck, not Daffy, Donald, Donald plush. Any other character that you’re thinking of. And there was a certain one that caught my eye. You see, they were doing a special buy one get one free deal on those character plushies. And I wanted to get one for my friend Lishelle at the time because one of her favorite characters was Tigger from Winnie the Pooh, so we got her, I wanted to get her like a Tiggerr plushie as a surprise. And the plush I got for myself. with its big goofy grin, pink and light pink stripes, and yellow eyes: It was the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. If you were to look at him now, you would think he was still brand new, without the retail, without the retail tag, of course. But I have taken care of him for a very long time and for a very good reason.

Claudia Henock 3:42
You see, in my life so far, I’ve had other stuffed animals that also have stories about them or have stories associated with them. And I’ll definitely talk about them in potential future solo episodes. But right now, he’s been a consistent, little plush friend in my life that I’ve been able to take with me as I’ve traveled, as I moved, as I went to college, as I moved to different places, and I’ve had him for a very long time.

Claudia Henock 4:13
One of the reasons that I keep him close to me was, he is an imaginary replacement for the other four legged friends in my life. He’s a very good substitute for the dogs in my life that I haven’t been able to see as often as I’ve had over the years. I’ve always been a dog person. Ever since I was young, I’ve always had dogs my life. Poodles, Bichons, Maltapoos, Chihuahuas if you were thinking a dog breed of any of the four that I mentioned, I probably had one of my life, but they’ve always been good. The dogs have always been a loving part of our lives. And they’ve aged while our family has aged as well. And one of the most important dogs I’ve had in my life was a certain white Bichon named Max. I got him when I was 13 years old to celebrate my 13th birthday because he was my, he was a French dog for a French room for a girl who was obsessed with French royalty and Marie Antoinette. And he was a really big part of my life.

Claudia Henock 5:32
When I went off to college, I wasn’t able to take them along with me because one, of course, you can’t take a dog to college, but two, he was a big part of my family back at home. My mom loved him. My dad loved him. My brother loved him. Our other dogs loved him. He was a good boy. And as I started to go from being 13 years old to 18 years old, Max went from being one years old to seven years old to being 14. He became a senior dog. He was a really good dog. Before the pandemic, I originally moved out to stay with a friend a few hours away, and the took Cheshire cat with me just as a replacement because I couldn’t have any of my dogs with me, not Max, not Peppy, not Boomer. Not any of them. Even if Cheshire wasn’t living breathing animal, he was a source of comfort, a four legged furry comfort with a really really goofy grin.

Claudia Henock 6:54
When I originally moved back home before the pandemic hit, it was a bit of relief that I got to see my dogs again. Because I love them you know. I’ve always been a bit of a dog person, so they’ve always been a big part of my life.

Claudia Henock 7:13
It’s been one year since Max has passed last March. And I still miss him. He was a really big, he was a really big part of my life.

Claudia Henock 7:24
I think it’s good to talk about what you’re feeling sometimes. Sometimes I just hold things in and I guess repress my emotions, or repress my feelings towards the situation. But when it comes to Max, and when he passed on due to old age… Yeah, it’s still, I still think about him to this day because he was a really good dog. And even if I have Cheshire Cat by my side, and I still have the other dogs back my parents house, I don’t think there’s gonna be anything that replaces him you know.

Claudia Henock 8:11
I still miss him.

Claudia Henock 8:17
He was a really good boy.

Claudia Henock 8:24
Thank you for listening to this episode of Your Most Precious Thing. If you want to support the show, you can leave a review on your favorite podcast platform and share your favorite episode with a friend. You can also contact me @claudiahenock on Instagram and Twitter, and Claudia Henock on LinkedIn. In addition to claudiahenock1@gmail.com. You can also follow Your Most Precious Thing through my official website, www.claudiahenock.com and anywhere you listen to your podcasts. Intro and Outro music is Synapse by Shane Ivers and you can also listen to his music on silvermansound.com