Reunited!

I'd been resigned to the fact that Frodge (as he has since been nicknamed) would not be able to accompany us on our journey across the seas.

Until I uncovered the heart... 

The problem was that Frodge was filled with seasand, and the heart was filled with dried lavender - both UBERno-nos when it comes to customs/quarantine (correctly referred to here as AQIS from now on).

I asked G's mom very nicely if she wouldn't mind unpicking the stitches of the two of them, and emptying them for me.  She did more than just that, she filled them both, lovingly restored them to 'full health' (with synthetic stuffing) and even gave Frodge heavy, beadfilled limbs!

As you can see, he's thrilled with the change, and can't wait to set off on the journey.

G's mom said in an sms, "An incredible flow of rough beach sand poured out of him.. Thousands of tiny shell fragments."  It was poetic, and symbolic too - a hidden, secret beauty.  We've decided that we're going to return the sand to the sea sometime, in honour of everything that must be left behind, and everything that cannot be 'taken' due to their intangibility.

The heart was a gift to us from G's parents, on the one side of the heart it has "girl" stitched in pink, and on the flipside it has "boy" stitched in blue.  The i in girl is dotted with a bead, and the o in boy is a button.

Frodge, on the other hand, goes back a long way - I spotted a relative of his, at my aunt and uncle's place, being used as a doorstop (being filled with a load of sand, that was the point!).  It was probably 'love at first sight' - I just couldn't be without one of my own.  I was probably a tot of 2 years old, but I was decided:  I had to have one!  So, Aunt asked her colleague (who had made their one), strings were pulled etc etc, and he's been with me ever since.  An odd sort of 'stuffed toy' if ever there was one, but he had a special place in my heart all these years, and voila, he will still, for a long time on!