I had a neighbor when I was growing up that always had this stuffed bear in a bedroom window. I didn't know them at all, but I would see it heading to the school bus stop. Several years went by, and I was now in high school and driving to school, but I went for a walk and saw the bear was missing, and it made me a little sad, too.

I mentioned it to my mom, who of course went over and asked this random person she had never met about it. Turns out that the bear was her daughter's favorite childhood stuffed animal. She had just graduated college, the first member of her family to do so, and had finally moved out to get a well-paying job in another state. My mom told me how proud the woman had sounded. At the time I was just like, "oh, okay," but thinking about it makes me a bit sentimental about how joyful it was that the bear was finding a new home because of an incredible success.