"Oh, look at the unicorn!"

people were saying. It had arrived looking a little shy. It proved to be extremely cuddly and very friendly.

It was exactly the sort of "cuddle toy" we want in the Show section we call "Handicrafts for Others". The toys go to the Children's Hospital where they are given to children in very special need of something to comfort them. 

I wish we got more things like that. There were other toys as well. We prodded and poked - and several of us did sneak in another little cuddle with the unicorn. There is no entry fee in this class and I wish more people would make these wonderful squishy sort of things for it. Yes, they are a lot of work but, believe me, the comfort they give is worth the work.

When I was working in special education I taught children who were in and out of hospital. I made a point of visiting them, something not everyone did. I thought it was important for them to know their teacher was thinking about them. I always took some very small thing with me.  I would make a "wrist puppet"... really just a finger puppet attached to a wrist band. Often the children I visited were children who had no way of communicating through speech. They were often unable to hold things very easily, if at all.  Hospital visits were especially frightening for them and having a "friend" there was intended to help. If our state Show does that sort of thing for just one more child then I consider it to be worthwhile.

I looked at other things yesterday - some weird and wonderful theatrical costumes, at some hats I cannot imagine anyone wearing, at embroidery that must have taken hundreds of hours to complete. There was dressmaking, something which varies wildly from the old-fashioned to the into the future. It was all very interesting but my eyes kept going back to the little unicorn now sitting up in a display cabinet surrounded by new "friends" and looking out at the world. I wonder who the little unicorn will go to. The children these toys are given to are chosen carefully. They are almost always children who will be there for a considerable length of time or don't have family who can be there with them. I know the little unicorn will go somewhere to be loved and appreciated but we will all miss this one!