Me [27 M] with my Wife [26F] I washed her childhood stuffed animal and destroyed it

A Reddit user shared a heartfelt story about accidentally destroying their pregnant wife’s cherished childhood stuffed animal, “Teddy,” while trying to clean it for health reasons. The stuffed animal, a deeply sentimental gift from her late grandmother, had been a lifelong source of comfort for the wife, particularly during tough times.

Unfortunately, the dryer caused irreparable damage, leaving her devastated. The user feels tremendous guilt and seeks advice on how to fix the situation and bring comfort to their wife. For more details and potential solutions shared by others, read the full story below.

‘ Me [27 M] with my Wife [26F] I washed her childhood stuffed animal and destroyed it’

My wife has a stuffed animal that she has had since she was born. We’ll call it “Teddy” even though it is a dog. Anyway, she loves that f**king stuffed animal. It is… er… was, her favorite thing. Her grandmother (who passed away when my wife was 10), gave it to her and it has kind of been her security blanket throughout her entire life.

When my Wife’s mother would get physical/abusive, she would clutch the thing in cry. She told me on more than one occasion her mother tried to throw it away as she got older. She had to dig through the trash and “save” it and hid it from her mother until she was away at college. At one point when she was younger,

her mother threw it in the dryer and singed the hair and laughed when she gave it back to her. Her mother wasn’t a nice person, but that’s neither her nor there, I’m just trying to tell you the connection she has with Teddy. Whenever she’s been sick or had an injury/surgery, Teddy has been in bed with her comforting her.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, my wife found out she was pregnant. We haven’t told anyone yet (hence the throwaway account), and have been trying to keep my wife healthy throughout the flu season. She works as a teacher so we’ve been trying really hard to be sanitary. Long story short Teddy was filthy.

Just absolutely disgusting after years of cuddling, sweat, tears, drool, and the occasional trash dive. I’d been after her for years to wash the thing but she was against it because of the dryer incident. I was finally able to convince her last night that it was time to wash it for her health’s sake.

We washed it on delicate and then put it on tumble dry (the tag was so faded and frayed you couldn’t read the washing instructions), but our drier is a piece of s**t and Teddy got caught somehow and was ripped apart inside the dryer beyond repair. My wife is absolutely devastated and I feel so ridiculously guilty. I kept apologizing and she kept crying.

She took the day off work today, partly because she is having bad cramps from the pregnancy, partly from the sadness of losing the favorite thing from her childhood. She was up in bed this morning crying because she was sick, and also because she didn’t have Teddy there to be with her. I feel like I fucked up something fierce here reddit, how do I fix this? Is there a way to fix this? How do I make this all better?

Here’s the comments of Reddit users:

skyscan1 −  This is an idea. Maybe not a good one, you decide. Ever heard of build a Bears? It’s a place where parents take their kids and they pick a teddy bear out and fill it with fluff and a cloth heart and the store closes the seems. Could you take the parts of your wife’s stuffed doggy to one of these places and place some doggy parts inside a new bear? Or find someone who could repair and re fluff the original one?

Pers14 −  This happened with my teddy bear “Clancy” – I had him since I was a child, brought him on countless voyages around the world, he’s always been with me. I once caught a terrible flu and barfed all over Clancy, I washed him and stupidly put him in the dryer. He was destroyed..I felt so stupid.

My sweet husband’s mom used to work as a seamstress, so he brought Clancy’s “corpse” to his mom, and she put together a pattern and sewed together a new Clancy. She was able to use some of the bits from the first Clancy to make a brand new Clancy 2.0, maybe something like this could be done?. All the best OP.

cursethedarkness −  Can you post a pic of what the bear looks like now? I have 40 years sewing experience, and there’s not much that can’t be fixed.

justdrowsin −  I can solve this. Sir, I am a subject matter expert on stuffed animals. This is a common problem and it can be completely fixed. First let me clarify a common misconception. Your wife’s Teddy was special to her because of the love and attention she had put into it over the many decades.

This love and attention gave her Teddy what we call a “stuffed animal spirit”. These stuffed animal spirits inhabit the body of the animal. When you destroyed the physical bear the spirit started floating around, a bit lost. The good news is that their spirits can easily transfer into a new body.

You’ll need to get a new body for the spirit, as others have suggested you can go to Build a Bear, or buy a similar one, or even attempt to repair it. Once you get the new body you’ll have to transfer the spirit back into the body. The process is simple. Just start acknowledging the new body as “Teddy” and, usually, within moments it will be back.

You may notice some slight disorientation at first, but stuffed animal spirits are quite resilient. I’d refrain from showing it a mirror for a few hours, and give it some time to sit in familiar surroundings. Again, they are quite resilient and within a few hours you can resume normal activities. It is important that you accept this as fact, and follow these instructions. Just as have decades of love and attention created Teddy, your faith will bring it back..

decimated_napkin −  Am I the only one who feels confused between moments of empathy and other moments of “c’mon, grow up you’re too old to behave this way”?

bookishgeek −  We used to wash and dry *my* “Teddy” (a rabbit named White Bunny) inside of a pillowcase so that this couldn’t happen – his limbs are barely on there, even now, 25 years later. 🙁 I love the build a bear/use Teddy’s guts idea to make a Teddy 2.0 for the baby idea. For future reference, put Teddy 2.0 in a pillowcase when you wash him. 🙂

johnyann −  I like /r/relationship threads like this one where the people involved aren’t pieces of s**t.

anna_marie −  What about getting a new Teddy? Since you’re having a child I would sell it as Teddy 2.0 – new chapter in life, new stuff animal. This Teddy could be your child’s Teddy and she can vicariously relive her joy through him/her.

cunt69696969 −  If this is the biggest problem with your relationship, s**t is dope.

gypsy_canuck −  If you are willing to ship it to Canada, I am a professional seamstress/tailor by trade & will repair the poor thing for free if able and also pay for the return shipping.