This is Jax.  Yes, I know this is the first time that you have heard from me directly.  But this is the first time that Sheriff Peanut Butter Brickle has given me permission to talk to you.  Can’t say as I blame him.  You can’t be too careful when a fellow rides a wave into your life out of nowhere.

I have always thought that the destination is less important than the way you get there.  And so you may wonder where I came from, how I got on that wave, how I washed onto shore, and why I knew I was going to be ok.

Well, let me just start by saying this.  I was born a humble stuffed animal, made from cotton and and stuffing and plastic parts.  I didn’t have the greatest start in life.  I was born a bit on the small side with a tongue that didn’t ever want to go back into my mouth.  I never knew my family because I guess sewing machines aren’t the family type. So I was shipped in a box from China to a machine with a big fork hand.  I was not really sure if this machine would accept me either.  Seemed like my lot in life were machines.  And I was right.  That big claw machine wanted to do nothing but eat quarters and dollar bills and one by one, my friends were taken away.  But I started to think about it like a nursery, and know that there was something or someone out there better for me. I knew that this nursery was where my new family was going to meet me.  One day.  One day.  If they had the skill to pluck me out.

As I sat there and waited with all the other stuffed animals hoping, just hoping, well, a little girl person came with some change and you guessed it.  That big claw thing in the machine lifted me straight up.  It wasn’t a pleasant ride to say the least.  And I was dropped right into a bin where the little girl person got me out all happy.  You see, family doesn’t always have to be where you came from.  Family can be wherever you go.  That’s just a fact of life.

As I was carried out of the big store away from that big claw monster thing, I knew that my life was about to get good.  I spent days with the little girl person in her room playing and nights in her bed cuddling.  One day, her big persons decided that they were going to take something called a vacation on a big boat.  And when she packed me in her bag, I couldn’t believe it! I was going to get to go on a vacation thing too.  I didn’t know what a big boat was, but as we climbed aboard, the little girl person told me that it was going to be a fun time and that she loved me and that she would give me a cookie later.   I was ok with that.  I was so hungry that I thought my tongue would slap my brains out, but I didn’t technically have a brain.

But as the little girl person was showing me the water below us, all of a sudden, a big wind came.  I found myself falling even further than when I was in the claw machine.  And I didn’t stop falling until I landed in the water.  I heard the little girl person yelling for me, but I couldn’t swim.  My sewing machine parents had not taught me that either, and I guess I was now a little bitter.  I saw the boat pulling away, and I found myself being pushed onto shore, and I heard one last thing from the little girl person.  She said bye.  Just bye.  Well.  Bye.

It was at that point that I had flashbacks.  Flashbacks of my life in China, the box I was shipped in and the little girl person saving me.  I knew that my chances of making it out of this situation was a pretty bleak one.  But I resigned myself to the fact that perhaps an octopus family or a shark family was looking for a dog like me.  And I held onto that hope.  You can’t ever give up hope.  I went to sleep, tired from the fall and then.  Then I woke up.

When you wake up sometimes, it takes you a minute to remember where you are if you are a travelin’ man like me.  But this time, I had no idea why two big dogs not made out of stuffing were staring at me.  I didn’t know why one of them tried to pee on me, something that I always aspired to as a stuffed dog.  But I knew, when a big Girl Person lifted me up and put me in her bag that this was ok. This was going to be ok.

Well, you already know the rest of the story, because Brickle and Digby, the non stuffed dogs already filled you in, but not with stuffing.  That is me.  I got a bath, I got a home.  I got a new family.  They said it was something called rescuing.  But whatever they want to call it, it’s good.

I thought that my traveling days were over.  But I was told they have just begun.

The Sheriff and the Deputy said that now I have been appointed Colonel.  Colonel Jax after the city I washed up in.  I have no idea what a Colonel is, or what a Colonel does, but maybe it is more than police fried chicken which I can’t even eat. Maybe since I already have stuffing in my belly, I can eat some turkey though. I’ll try it.

My family told me that I am now a part of their journey on the No Path Path the next few months.  They said we have exploring and traveling to do.  They said that we are going to tell happy rescue stories, so I thought I would start.  You see, when you are born a humble stuffed animal and shipped far away, you can find love.  Even more than once.  I never gave up.  In fact, I gave in. I also fell in. Because you see, sometimes it takes some of us longer to find our family.  Sometimes, we have to realize that our family can even find us.  Even when it seems we are lost at sea.

Here is to many more adventures together.  It is nice to finally meet you.  I’m a travelin’ man.  Now, let’s get down to travelin’.  But no boats please.  Welcome to Savannah, Georgia!

-Colonel Jax

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