My name is Flat Teddy. It wasn't always that. I was originally named Theodore E. Bear, but everybody always shortened the "Theodore" part to "Ted." I was a real stuffed bear, with a fat, fluffy body and ears and everything. I lived in Mrs. Pearson's classroom with many, many other bears, and I was very much loved by all the first graders who cuddled me during story time.

One day I overheard Mrs. Pearson telling her class about a big trip she was going to take around the United States. Oh, did I ever want to do that! I listened very hard, hoping that maybe she'd choose me to be the teddy bear that went along. But then I heard her tell the class how very small the motor home was that she'd be traveling in. There would be no room for teddy bears.

I thought and I thought about how I could fit in the motor home. Another bear who had visited a second grade room one day came back and told me about a story he'd just heard that teacher read to her class. It was called " Flat Stanley," and it was about a boy who accidentally got flattened by a falling bulletin board. He wanted to see a friend far away, so his family just stuck him in a big envelope and mailed him there. That was my answer! I just needed to get flat, and then there'd be room for me on the trip.

That night as I was lying on the bear shelf in the classroom, I made my strongest wish ever, just before I went to sleep. I wished that somehow I would be made small enough that Mrs. Pearson would take me with her. In my sleep that night my Wish Fairy came to me and whisked me away to a greeting card company far, far away. I was flattened, trimmed, and left with just my cute little face and bow tie. Not even my ears showed. The next day I was shipped as a greeting card to a store where a friend of Mrs. Pearson's just happened to see me. She knew how Mrs. Pearson loved teddy bears, so she bought me and wrote inside the card:

Just rub this teddy's nose every time you miss us and know that we are missing you, too.

That was a perfect solution! Mrs. Pearson was so pleased that she'd have a teddy bear small enough to travel with her, after all. She found just the right place for me to sit in the little motor home. And so here I am, on the adventure of my life! You never know how much power is in your wishes, do you?