For Leigh Andrews, Zip is her life.
"He's been through everything with me," said Andrews, freshman in pre-nursing.
Zip, her 45-year-old stuffed monkey, was passed down from her mother when Andrews was born.
"When my mom saw him, she said, 'I want that instead of a doll,'" Andrews said.
Zip's body is soft and has hard hands and a hard face, but he has lost an ear, a hand and one of his shoes from being well-loved and from a run-in with the childhood dog of Andrews' mother.
"When I was little, he was the only stuffed animal my brothers knew not to touch," Andrews said. "That was the only doll they respected."
She said Zip is someone to cuddle with.
"He goes everywhere with me," Andrew said. "I don't sleep without him."
Even sleeping over at a friend's house in high school, Zip would go with her.
"If I don't sleep with him, I'll end up waking up with with my arms wrapped around nothing," she said.
The only time she has been separated from Zip besides summer camps was when he was sent away for surgery.
"He just had surgery on his legs because they dry-rotted," Andrews said.
She said her mom found online the woman who created Beanie Babies, and she shipped him there to be fixed.
Zip was gone for a month.
"It was the first month of college," Andrews said. "I flipped out."
During that month, it was knowing Zip wasn't there that bothered Andrews the most.
"It freaked me out that he wasn't in anyone's care except for that lady, who I had no idea who she was," Andrews said.
She got him back on Parents' Weekend.
"I went ham," Andrews said. "It was so exciting."
Zip is only one monkey in a family of three, but the others remain at home.
Andrews remembers finding them in the attic.
"There's Chip, and that's the baby monkey, and then there's Tippi, who's the mom," Andrews said.
Once, Andrews left Zip at the lake, and her family had to turn around and go back for him.
She said they had been on the road for two hours and were almost home.
Andrews said she knew it was the last place she was with him, but she got the feeling in her heart that something went wrong.
"Your heart just sinks," Andrews said. "It freaked me out. I cried for a while."
Andrews is protective of Zip and doesn't allow anyone to touch him.
"I'll start crying if you touch him," Andrews said. "No one is allowed to touch him unless I ask you to hand him to me."
Even when adopting a dog for her 17th birthday, Andrews kept Zip in mind.
"My decision on my dog was based on him," she said.
Andrews ultimately adopted a Shitzu because her other choice was noted for chewing on toys.
"We have a black lab that isn't allowed in my room upstairs because it chews on Zip," Andrews said.
Andrews said she will pass Zip to her first daughter, as her mom did for her.
She said although she wasn't close to her mom in high school, it was knowing Zip was always safe that bonded the two together.
"I have a bond that I share with my mom and my brothers don't," Andrews said.
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