So we've all had toys at some point or another in our childhood. Whether it was Barbie's, or Lego's, rag dolls, action figures, Raggedy Anne dolls, or army men. For me, I had Barbie's. And it wasn't just your typical average couple of dolls to play with, then get rid of when middle school hits. I'm talking, HUGE FAN. And they didn't sit on my shelves like some trophy to be shown off, I legit had an entire world created for my Barbie's. They lived in Barbietown (but of course), and besides the row after row of houses, there was a school, a restaurant, a hotel, a grocery store, Fashion Fever (the local boutique situated up on the hill), and even a park. Now if they have houses and businesses, then they must have occupations, yes? Not only occupations, but a life. Each one of my individual 130+ Barbie dolls had a name, a job, a personality, a voice, a style, and their own life. We had Anna Maria, the pop star singer, Jasmine, Arwen, and Elizabeth as the double agents, Amy as the rapper, Katherine as the mayor, Barbie as the businesswoman, and even the beach girls! It's where I give most of my credit to my acting abilities. Improv, beat boxing (they had to have music for dancing!), accents for the different voices (British, French, etc), and keeping my mind in a creative state. This continued all the way up until about freshman year when we moved and then somehow the transition went to American Girl Dolls. Now I know it may sound absurd to be a senior in high school and still caring about this sort of stuff, but you know what? It makes me happy. A little creativity and imagination is always good for the soul. I've always had a soft spot for dolls, especially Barbie because at a young age, they were comforting and I had great memories playing make believe with them. And I know there's this whole "Barbies are bad for young girls' role models... they're proportionally inaccurate and display an impossible image to attain to growing girls." Well you know what, Polly Pockets, Bratz dolls, rag dolls, etc.. none of them have a perfect image and at least for me, I wasn't ever trying to look like Barbies. I just liked playing with them. And these dolls have been everywhere! Chicago, Mexico, South Dakota, California, Arizona.. they are traveling fiends. Of course people still give me looks like I belong in a nuthouse whenever I mention them or have a photo in my wallet, but if they make me smile when I'm having an upset day, then leave me alone! You can have your photos of your cats and shirtless men, let me have my dolls. Anyhow, today is a dedication back to when Barbietown was in full swing and back when my dolls were having adventures just like me.. and continue to do so to this day. (:
See, I still cut out pictures of them! There's something insanely chic and classical stylish about Barbie.
This wa the Main Street in Barbietown..
My total population of Barbietown! 130+.
Taylor and Mark having an intimate moment in their wedding.. Oh my imagination was wild back then.
I even had the lovely opportunity to take some of the girls to Chicago's American Girl Doll Store. They have their own silver wear! We were by far the oldest ones in there minus the accompanying mothers, but we held out dolls proud. That was four years ago too!
Halloween was a must for these two lovelies.
And we come full circle back to today.
No comments:
Post a Comment