A bright yellow piece of fabric decorated with little yellow giraffes. That's what I couldn’t live without. Ever since the blanket left my grandmother’s grasp and entered my chubby baby hands, I never let it go. The kitchen, living room, stores, hotels, mom’s house, dad’s house, the dirty floor, my blanket went everywhere with me, even the zoo,  where I proudly showed the giraffes how their twin resides on my little scrunched up ball of fabric. 

17 years later I can confidently say that time has not been kind to my poor blanket. What once started out as one beautiful pattern slowly turned into rips and snags, covered in dirt and germs. Every few months the blanket surgeon, better known as my grandma, would be called over to cover the holes with whatever fabric was near. If you showed 3 year old me what my current “blankie” looks like today she would probably fall to the ground crying. After many emergency hole fixes about 8 different fabrics that make up my blanket, and less than half of them being the original bright yellow giraffes. 

While my blanket no longer follows me around everywhere I go,  it still lays under my pillow every night when I go to bed. I’ve been asked many times, “You still have that old thing?” “Of course”, is all I can come up with. It's a good question, why do I still have my blanket? And to be honest I’m not quite sure, some part of the little girl left deep down inside me just won't let it go. 

As I grow older I’ve come to realize that most things can be replaced; phones, money, clothes. But memories and feelings, those are things that are irreplaceable. The warmth and comfort I feel inside as a hold these worn down patches of fabric hanging on by a fraying thread can not be replaced. The heartfelt memories of being an innocent little girl running around the house with my blankie clung around my neck as a cape, or being engulfed in the bright yellow fabric while being carried to bed by my mother just cannot be replaced. The feelings and warm memories found inside of a small tattered blanket is what I could never live without.