Mom takes young daughter's favorite stuffed bear on trips with her so he could 'see the world'

One mom was inspired to take her daughter's stuffed animal everywhere she went. Why? Because her eight-year-old daughter wanted her beloved toy, Franky, to see the world! Katie Phang first took Franky from her home in Miami to NYC on a work trip. “She put him in the suitcase and I legit forgot about him until I got to the hotel,” "The Katie Phang Show" host, 47, told Yahoo Life.

Her little girl, Charlotte, wanted her furry friend to have a great time exploring the world. “‘He never leaves the condo,’ ‘He never leaves the house,’” Phang recalled her young girl saying. “I said, ‘Well, you could take them to Publix. You could take them to the supermarket if you really want them to go somewhere,' then she looks at me, rolls her eyes, and says, ‘The supermarket is not New York City.’”

So on the 24-hour trip, Franky was taken to Sixth Avenue, MSNBC headquarters and a coffee shop near St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The anchor shared Franky's story on Twitter too. “My little girl asked me to take her stuffy, Franky, on my quick trip to NYC because ‘he’s never traveled outside of our house before and needs to see the world,’” Phang tweeted alongside a photo of the pink stuffed animal sitting on the hotel bed. “Everyone please send your regards to Franky!”

Sure enough many people shared their own stories of traveling with a soft toy courtesy of their loved ones. @DanniRooSab tweeted a picture of a stuffed duck and rabbit writing, "My mom (who has dementia now) put Bun Bun and Quackdoodle in my husband's and my Easter baskets about 12 years ago. They have since traveled with us everywhere we go. This is them on our trip to Australia last year."

Now Franky's story not only touches other people's lives but also makes Phang feel more positive about the world and her connection with her daughter. “There’s purity in the way that children look at the world,” she pointed out. “If my little daughter’s stuffy can make people feel good, and remember their childhoods, or whatever things that remind them of something warm and friendly, then that's awesome. It’s a gentle reminder to all of us that there is commonality. There are things that bring us together, things that unite us, because the world is so polarizing these days.”

The cable news host said this was the first time “in eight years she's asked me to take a stuffy with me. It’s kind of like a little proxy for her. So, when it goes with me, [it’s like] she’s with me.” While there's so much negativity online stories like this also make her more hopeful about being connected to others. “It made me realize, OK, this is what the internet is supposed to do for us,” she said. “It's supposed to be provocative sometimes, but I also think it's supposed to unite us with people that are not next door, that are somewhere else in the world. And it helps us find some common ground.”