When I was 10, my dad suddenly passed away, leaving me a singing teddy bear as his final gift. Twenty years later, I gave that same bear to my seven-year-old son, and while replacing its batteries, I discovered a small cassette hidden beside the battery box. When I played it, I heard my dad\u2019s voice telling my childhood stories, sharing memories, and giving advice for my future, before explaining that he wanted my children to hear his voice and \u201cmeet\u201d their granddad even though he would never meet them. My mother had never known about the recording, making it an even more precious discovery, and today that cassette is our family\u2019s most treasured connection to a grandfather my son never got to meet. READ MORE BELOW <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I was 10, my dad suddenly passed away, leaving me a singing teddy bear as his final gift. Twenty years later, I gave that same bear… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n