The Toy Under The Couch!

 The Toy Under The Couch!

I found it today.
That little toy you used to carry everywhere.
The one I thought was lost years ago.
It was hiding under the couch...
covered in dust...
waiting quietly where neither of us had looked.
The moment I saw it...
my heart stopped.
Because for a second...
I wasn't standing in this room anymore.
I was back in those ordinary days.
The days when you'd proudly parade that toy through the house like it was treasure.
The days when I'd hear you squeaking it at the most inconvenient times.
The days when laughter came easier.
The days when you were still here.
I picked it up slowly.
Like it was something fragile.
Something sacred.
And maybe it was.
Because somehow...
that old toy held more than stuffing and fabric.
It held memories.
Tiny pieces of a life we built together.
The afternoons we played until you were exhausted.
The evenings you fell asleep with it tucked beneath your chin.
The way your eyes lit up whenever you found it after losing it for the hundredth time.
I sat there holding it for a long time.
Smiling.
Crying.
Doing both at once.
Because grief is strange like that.
It can break your heart...
and heal it...
in the very same moment.
Maybe that's why the toy stayed hidden all these years.
Maybe it wasn't lost.
Maybe it was waiting.
Waiting for a day when I needed a reminder.
A reminder that love leaves pieces of itself behind.
In forgotten corners.
In worn-out toys.
In the quiet places we don't think to look.
And today...
beneath an old couch...
I found more than a toy.
I found you.
For just a moment.
And somehow...
that moment was enough.