admin's Teddys
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Guest Post Blog #2, Aasa Burlin
Since the article in the Inlander came out, with Dylan and baby Lou on the cover, he’s been busy answering questions and has received numerous positive and encouraging comments. And he is preparing tons of new Teddy packages to be sent out. This is great. It’s great to see a project crafted by passion, faith and a heaping dose of frustration getting some well deserved recognition. I’ve been answering a lot of questions too. People have congratulated me too. And while I certainly don’t mind answering questions, I feel odd accepting congratulatory remarks. The Theodores is not my project. Don’t get me wrong. I am a Teddy supporter and a Teddy believer. I may have sacrificed for this project. (money, date nights, clothes, a little bit of sanity) But I have not done the work.
I have always believed very strongly that while you should support and encourage your partner, you need not share everything to be a happy couple. (On the contrary, you only need to share a few selfies a day on social media and finish each other’s hashtags to achieve that kind of bliss, right?)
Dylan is one of the most passionate people I have ever met. For better or worse. Living with somebody who does nothing half assed, except for laundry, can be challenging. And when things have felt uphill and he has struggled to find the time and resources necessary to keep on Teddying on, I wish I could say I’ve been a tireless supporter. I wish I could say I’ve been the soccer-mom-type-cheerleader who doesn’t know the rules or the point of the game but is still a diehard believer that her little nugget is the best one out there and only stops cheering and hollering to snap pictures to text the whole family.
But that would be a lie.
I’ve been more like the busy mom who doesn’t even pretend to know the rules and says “wanna just quit, hun?” when things get hard.
The article and the attention is has brought to Dylan and the Theodores has been great, and he deserves every little bit of it. It hasn’t changed what he does or is trying to do, but sometimes shining a little light on something can make it appear even more powerful and beautiful simply by eliminating distracting shadows of doubt.
A crazy idiot with orange hair once said “a lot of people are saying” and now I am going to steal that phrase. A lot of people are saying, since the Inlander chose to recognize his hard work and contagious passion, that the Theodores are doing good things. And I am one of them. 3