When I turned 5, ALL I WANTED was a Shirley Temple Doll...
Grammy Mim searched the blooming town for one, but came up empty handed.
In hopes of appeasing me, she "settled" on a new Doll in Town... BARBIE
I will forever be grateful for that turn of events...
My Tiny Tears went into storage.
Barbie and I became inseparable... the Best Best Friend I could ask for!
She didn't judge... didn't argue... could see Ken whenever she wanted, but didn't NEED him... Barbie could DO or BE ANYTHING!
I didn't care about her boobs... in fact, Skipper caused me more
trauma with her perfectly straight hair!
Barbie was happy living in a cardboard house, with cardboard furniture and cardboard albums...
and had a wardrobe of handmade clothing
(many of them matching my handmade dresses).
I lived out my fantasies through Barbie... dreamed of all the things I would do when I grew up. When my baby cousin chewed her hand, I pretended she had an encounter with a lion while on Safari in Africa!
Sometimes it involved Ken, but she usually preferred to be alone... just like me.
You see... we moved a LOT. Oregon, California, Texas, back to Cali and Oregon...
I attended TEN different schools while my dad pursued his acting career. (Yes, I said TEN!)
I didn't live anywhere long enough to establish those long-term bonds...
My ONE CONSTANT was BARBIE... and she never let me down.
Apparently, that was the vision of the original creator of the Barbie Doll:
"My whole philosophy of Barbie was that, through the doll, the girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices. "
I received flack from my peers by encouraging my own daughters' love of Barbie Dolls.
They believed it would cause distorted body images...
but I know better...
Barbie taught me to DREAM... the gift that kept on giving!
(Thank you Grammy Mim!)
2015 Barbie Ad Campaign is a WINNER Dream on... |