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AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Sometimes a kid's best friend isn't actually a person.
GREGORY HOLSTON: He had brown hair. He had a yellow chest, almost like a "Curious George" cartoon character.
RASCOE: Reverend Gregory Holston remembers his best friend being a stuffed animal, a plush monkey.
HOLSTON: The curious thing is his name was Monkey (laughter). And through the times of what my father and mother were going through their separation and divorce, this stuffed monkey was very comforting.
RASCOE: Holston's story is next in the NPR series Throw It Back, which illuminates how the objects we love as kids shape our lives and worldviews as adults. Holston's story begins in Norristown, Pennsylvania, where his father was a prominent barber and community leader.
HOLSTON: This is the 1960s, and my father was a little bit older than my mother. My mother was a modern woman who found a way to get her college degree in nursing. She was a professional woman. And he kind of wanted more of a traditional wife. There was conflict because of that.
I do remember we were watching "Batman" together. My brother and sister and my mother - we were all watching the live-action show with Adam West. So I was 5 years old. And my mother locked the door to the bedroom as we were watching, and my father angrily was demanding that the bedroom be opened up, to let him in, and she didn't want to let him in. And the yelling, the screaming, the pushing, the - him literally breaking the door down and them yelling and screaming at each other.
Any child going through a separation where you see that - you know, you reflect on yourself, like, maybe I'm doing something that causes them to - not to be able to get along. And so to see the anger, the hostility, was painful. But Monkey was always there, my constant companion.
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HOLSTON: The monkey then was closer to me than even my brother and sister, even though I loved them, and they were wonderful. He was the one that I could talk to and felt like I was getting a response in some way. I could hug the monkey. We would play box. I'd swing at the monkey. The monkey'd swing back at me, you know? I believed the monkey could fly. So I often would have him flying around the house, and he was that kind of imaginary friend for me.
Everywhere I went, even when I went to school, I tried to carry it with me. Whether I was in a court scene 'cause I was part of a custody battle - I can remember the benches, I can remember the judge, I remember him bringing me into chambers and asking me, who would you want to be with, your father or your mother? And through all of those points when that was happening, I had the monkey with me. He had a very big smile. That was his facial expression, very happy, kind of what I needed.
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HOLSTON: I think he just kind of faded away after a while because I got into those teen years in there where you just don't carry a monkey around. You're a teenager, you know? You're moving into a whole different realm. But it was probably until I was 45, and I was preaching a sermon on healing, did the Lord reveal to me much of this stuff in my own life. The power for that stuffed monkey for me is that that inanimate object gave me the love I needed in a difficult time. But we shouldn't have to rely on inanimate objects. We should be able to rely on people making sure that we have the love and feel valued.
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HOLSTON: So when I preach about the Gospel, I often talk about the Lord in that way for people's lives. But I also talk about the kinds of investment we make in community 'cause it can be a rec center counselor - it could be a teacher. It could be all of these things that are supposed to be in the communities for all young people to thrive and all people to thrive. And if I can be that kind of healing presence, change agent, then my life is worthwhile.
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RASCOE: That's Reverend Gregory Holston in Philadelphia.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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