Seven-year-old Abrielle woke up on a cold October morning in Richmond, Virginia, to discover her world had collapsed. Papa Bear, the teddy who had shared every bedtime story and dried every tear since she was an infant, had vanished.
The teddy bear – her constant companion for over two years – had vanished after a sleepover at her cousin’s house. For a child still grieving her grandfather Danny Jo, who had died suddenly in May 2020, the loss felt crushing.
Papa Bear wasn’t just any stuffed animal. After Danny Jo’s death, a friend had sent flowers to the family with a sweet bear attached. Abrielle had claimed it immediately, christening it Papa Bear in memory of her beloved grandfather.
“She took him everywhere and it was her sense of comfort in the midst of what was her first big loss in her life,” her mother, Lori, recalled. At only three years old, Abrielle didn’t fully understand death, but “she knew that was her piece of papa she could have forever.”
Danny Jo had been the quintessential doting grandfather. “They spoiled Abrielle rotten and gave her endless desserts,” Lori said of Danny Jo and his wife Loretta, who had died unexpectedly shortly after Abrielle’s first birthday. After Loretta’s death, while Abrielle’s father served in the Marines, Lori and Abrielle moved in with Danny Jo.
“We would surprise him with corny gifts, they would cook dinner together, they would sing and dance together,” Lori remembered. The grandfather and granddaughter particularly loved dancing to “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X.
Then illness struck Danny Jo and things quickly went down hill. “It absolutely gutted us as a family and he meant the world to all of us,” Lori said of Danny Jo’s death.
Papa Bear became Abrielle’s way of keeping her grandfather close. But during a cousin’s sleepover, in the chaos of a move, the bear disappeared. “She was extremely hurt by this and wanted him back but at this point in time I had no idea how to find it,” Lori explained.
A year passed and then one night, driving home, Abrielle began crying profusely. “I really miss Papa Bear and I wish we could get him back home. Do you think since Santa has so much magic that he could find him? He can do anything!” she sobbed to her mother.
That plea launched Lori into a frantic search for a replacement to ease her child’s grief. “The search lasted for about two weeks,” she said. She scoured old photos, finding one small picture of the bear with the flowers. She contacted her friend in Georgia for the invoice number, called the floral company, only to learn they had outsourced to a local florist – but which one, no one knew.
Finally, Lori posted in a local Facebook group in a last ditch attempt to figure it out. There, a woman messaged her an eBay link to the exact same bear, listed by a seller named Angie in Oklahoma.
“I started crying and went to my daughter and said ‘I think I found who has Papa Bear!'” Lori recalled. “We hugged for a while and just cried.”
With the replacement bear secured, all that was left was for the reunion. After Abrielle returned from school and the family sat down for dinner, Lori faked a knock at the door.
“Who’s here?” Abrielle asked, jumping up.
“I don’t know let’s check,” Lori replied, beginning to record.
Outside waited a gift bag with two notes – one from the seller Angie, whose note Abrielle read as “Angel,” and another “from Heaven” that Lori had written – wrapped around tissue paper.
“As soon as Abrielle saw the bear she immediately started crying tears of joy and held the teddy tight,” Lori said.
The mother found herself overwhelmed, too. “I was crying and fighting back tears trying to listen to her and just let her be present with the return of her bear. She had been waiting for this reunion for so long and I just felt so much gratitude that I had found it.”
“When she started reading the note and read out ‘Papa,’ she immediately knew what was going on and the look on her face and how she read each card just warmed my heart,” Lori said. “She is the sweetest and most kind little girl in the world.”
The response from family and friends brought an overwhelming amount of love. “They all know how much Danny Jo meant to her and to us as a whole. He was the life of the party and cared so deeply for his family,” Lori shared.
For Lori, the moment carries a deeper message about helping children navigate grief. “Doing small gestures to make your loved one still feel present even though they’re gone is such an amazing way to honor them,” she reflected. “Keep telling your kids the stories about them, tell them how much they loved them and are with them every day.”
Now Papa Bear is back where he belongs – helping a young girl hold onto the memory of a grandfather who meant the world to her, one hug at a time.
