I have a very odd sense of humor. I love nothing more than embarrassing my children by car dancing at stop lights, or driving a white VW Beetle convertible covered with colorful daisy decals, or driving around in the same car, top down, with a stuffed deer head in the backseat.
So, it isn’t really surprising that before I adopted Elle from Russia, I bought her an odd present.
We had requested a baby girl when we started our Russian adoption, so I knew it was safe to buy something pink and girly. Before I ever laid eyes on Elle, I had already bought her something that I hoped she would love.
I bought her a bunny. A soft, cushy, sleepy-time rabbit dressed in footed pajamas and a nightcap. The bunny was pink and its outfit was pink and white striped. When I first saw this bunny, I knew it was special…and would be special to Elle. I named the rabbit Gulag Bunny, my dry humor linking Elle’s Russian heritage with the bunny’s stripped nightwear.
“Gulag” was the administration for the former Soviet Union’s forced labor camps. Through literature and movies, we’ve come to understand that the gulags of the Soviet Union were unimaginable places of pain, death, and darkness.
Russia has had a very long, complex, and violent history, a history that my husband and I want Elle to learn. As she has gotten older, she is now starting to understand the complicated politics of her birth country. She is proud of her heritage…and of her favorite stuffed animal.
Gulag Bunny is almost thirteen years old now. He has seen the inside of a washer and dryer countless times and Elle’s grandmother has lovingly stitched Gulag Bunny together so many times it is hard to find a place that hasn’t been fixed.
When Elle packs for a trip, Gulag Bunny is as important as her toothbrush. Gulag Bunny has been to camp, to grandparent’s houses, and has even been to school a few times. He’s a world traveller…making the journey to Russia when I adopted her.
Gulag Bunny is an odd name for a child’s stuffed animal, and I admit that my sense of humor can be dark, but Elle loves her security bunny, not only because he wards away monsters at night, but because he represents her birth heritage.
And, I imagine when she goes away to college in six years; Gulag Bunny will be lovingly packed next to her computer and her toothbrush.
Photo Credit. LanitaM
