Steadfast.

I named this little stuffed Jay-bear 'Steadfast'. Because he is. And it's when he's away that I realise just how apt that name is. We are not a complete unit when he's gone, and our little family is in animated suspended animation until he returns. And when he returns it is to familiar chaos and bedtime stories, the morning rush and walks on the beach, midnight musical beds and getting dinner on the table, doing frustrated homework, and, at the end of the week, finally, lining up on the friday night movie couch with a bag of liquorice allsorts and a bowl of popcorn. And never a single complaint. He really is.