Where Do Old Toys Go?

I ask myself that all the time.  Where DO old toys go?

Or where SHOULD they go?

I wrote a post a while ago about Rabbit.  Rabbit had an interesting adventure.  He punked a hawk!

For years we have bought furry squeaky toys for our dog Jenny.

They have always lasted about 2 days.  She rips into them to remove the stuffing and surgically excise, and kill, the squeaker.  Once that is complete, she is done with the toy.

Every Christmas she has gotten many squeaky toys in her stocking.  She loves to get into her stocking to see what Santa has brought her!  She will carry them one by one to a different part of the house, to be operated on later.  And they are!

Rabbit was different.  One of her favorite things in life is chasing rabbits in our yard.  She has never caught one, to our knowledge, but she loves it! 

When she discovered Rabbit in her stocking one Christmas, she immediately took to it.  She protected it!  Sure, it squeaked and she squeaked it all the time.  But she carried Rabbit everywhere, indoors and outdoors, protecting him and she never chewed him up!  It was amazing to watch!

Rabbit is now 2 years old.  And he was having a grand time being carried everywhere.

Everywhere that is until this last Christmas.  One of the furry squeaky toys in Jenny's stocking was a leopard bone-shaped thing.  We didn't know what to call it, so it became "Your Toy."

Your Toy replaced Rabbit in short order!

We would say, "Where's Your Toy?", and she would run to get it.

Your Toy goes everywhere in and outdoors.

One morning she had taken Your Toy outside, and when coming back in it wasn't in her mouth.  I asked where it was and she immediately turned around, ran down the stairs, and came back a few seconds later with Your Toy in her mouth!

Your Toy is living the good life.

So, where does that leave Rabbit?

He still hangs around.  He still isn't ripped apart.  He still has his stuffing.  He still has his squeaker.  He still looks like Rabbit.

But Rabbit is alone.  He is not carried anywhere anymore.  He has been on the deck stair for, well, for four weeks now, since Your Toy was discovered in the Christmas stocking.

It has rained a few times, snowed twice, been very cold and unseasonably warm. 

But there sits Rabbit.  Never moving.  Alone.

Poor Rabbit.

Like MacArthur said, if I might paraphrase, "Old toys never die, they just fade away..."

So, I ask - where DO old toys go?