Project: Stuffed animal fashion show

Circa: 1990?

Background: The very last big play plan I made with my little sisters was a fashion show our stuffed animals were going to put on. We dressed them up in any clothes we could find, stripping gowns and shirts and hats off dolls and pillaging boxes of baby clothes. All of the stuffies were going to be involved. It was going to be such a huge production, but somehow it never happened.

Sordid details: Even now I find bears wearing clothes that aren't theirs.

Why was it left unfinished?: I think it came just at the moment when I finally lost my last shred of willingness to play with toys. Or maybe it was my sisters' last stand, I don't know.

What I learned: Extravaganzas are by nature hard to pull off.

Prognosis: It's too late now. By now, some of the biggest names in stuffed-animal couture on the Andrews circuit have been shipped off to the Salvation Army.