On Wednesday I bought another panda…not only anther panda but another Webkinz. This makes 120 and some odd panda, and 11 Webkinz. Yes I am a 20 year-old woman with 11 Webkinz. But 4 of them are pandas and one red panda…so it’s almost okay. The Webkinz I bought was a Pretty Panda, which is purple and spotty. The cool thing about this is my very first panda was also purple. I had this purple panda since I could remember, before I liked pandas. So now my oldest panda and my newest panda (as of yesterday, but thats a different story) are both purple.

Just as a note my Pretty Panda Webkinz, is a boy named Christian. 4 out 4 people I talked to automatically called it a him and I sort of thought it looked him-ish, so it is a him. On wWbkinz he is a theatre loving panda which seems appropriate considering he is purple.

So I start with my pandas.

I have to start with the story of not my first panda, but the panda that really started it all, Anda. (I know what a creative name.) The first time I saw Anda was my first day of kindergarten. At the time I was obsessed with cows, and in the reading corner was a big black and white thing that in my five-year-old mind was a cow. I immediately became attached to the cow bear in the reading corner, and spent all the reading time with it. My teacher showed me a book on pandas, and they became my favorite animal. I asked for my own panda for Christmas (which I got), and continued to spend as much time as possible at school with my panda, that I had now named Anda.

At the end of the year it was time for me to say goodbye to panda that had become my best friend. I was very sad. But then an announcement was made that my teacher was getting rid of the panda, and there would be a drawing, and one lucky student would take it home. I was so excited! A chance my best friend would be coming home with me. I wanted to win so bad, but I knew I couldn’t get my hopes up, I never won things like this. But then on the last day of school my teacher reached into the bowl, I had all my fingers and toes and anything else I could, crossed, and then my teacher called my name! I was so happy, I was getting my best friend!

Later, when I was older, my mom told me that the prize I had won was not mere chance. My teacher had called my mom earlier to ask if it was okay if I took the panda home with me, as she was getting rid of it anyway. My said yes, so we had a “drawing” so it seemed fair, and I took home my most loved panda.

Flash forward almost 15 years, and I still adore my panda, Anda. She gets the prized place in my room of sitting on my bed, and I still sleep with her every night. In fact for a little while I took her out of my bed, and I found myself not sleeping very well, and when I put her back I slept infinity better. Recently I gave her a bit of a make-over because she was missing on eye and one of them was washed out. (The new eyes were a little scary so I paintedthem solid black.)