Velveteen Rabbit

Did you guys ever read the Velveteen Rabbit as a kid? The story about a stuffed toy rabbit who becomes real through the love of his owner just so happens to be my favourite ceremony reading for a wedding.  


"What is real?" asked the Rabbit one day. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse. "When you are real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

"I suppose you are real," said the Rabbit.

The Skin Horse smiled. "The boy's uncle made me real," he said. "That was a great many years ago, but once you are real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."

What do you guys think? I think it's absolutely beautiful and you can incorporate this into lots of different ceremonies.