Barbie is exactly one week older than I am--imagine that! Fifty-years-old today. She and I have created our share of controversy, but I think hers is silly. She's a doll, for goodness sake. Get over it.I've known women who, as girls of ten-years-old, preferred baby dolls and to this day they think all young girls should play with only those dolls you'd stuff into a diaper and swaddle in a blanket. Well. At ten, I'd grown bored to tears with baby dolls and I craved something fresh and fun.
Enter Barbie.
Oh, was she amazing! My little sister and I raced over sidewalks after school in order to burst into our house to play with our Barbies. My mom one Christmas created an imaginative Barbie dollhouse for us in a box (I still remember the clear glass Alka Seltzer bottle 'lamps' with plastic vines inside and the white hairspray lids with trim as shades), but our baby brother later sat on it. Wow, we were furious with him. The next Christmas we received a dollhouse made from a sturdier, little-brother-proof suitcase. My mom also included lots of gorgeous Barbie clothes, all handmade.
But my favorite use of my Barbie imagination involved playing outside with our friends on summer afternoons and using coffee cans as Barbie swimming pools. How fun to get soaked along with Barbie and to warm in the sun on towels while our Barbies laid on tiny beach towels of their own, ones we snipped from old terry cloth.
Well, don't get me started, for I could blather on and on with Barbie memories. I just wanted to say thank-you, Barbie, for all the Good Times--they were very good, indeed. And again, Happy Birthday.***
Anyone else want to share some Barbie memories in my comment box? (Barbie Haters need not apply.) :)
*****
Happy Birthday to Barbie and soon to be Happy Birthday to Debra...When communism fell in Hungary, very soon after, they had a few streetcars which were not the traditional gold and white but Barbie pink, advertising the American doll. We were all living in Budapest for most of 1992 and saw an ironic play about the history of Hungary showing all the highpoints and how the street names changed with regime changes and at the end Mickey Mouse and the Barbie streetcar came on stage to solve all the problems of transition.........Bet you didn't know this part of Barbie's life! Barbie icon to the world.
ReplyDeleteWhat lovely memories!
ReplyDeleteI was never really into Barbies much. I preferred to be outside or listening to the radio. My girls are crazy about Barbies though. :)
I am only about 18 mos. older than Barbie. My "main" Barbie was cruelly disfigured by my dad -- one day I dressed Barbie as a man and showed my dad, who was doing some paperwork. He thought she would look more authentically male with a mustache and proceeded to ink one above her top lip, where it remains to this day! Grrrr!
ReplyDeleteI have all my Barbie stuff still, but it is in not-great shape. One day I must get it out and put it in good order.
Happy Birthday, Barbie!
Laurie S.
Laurie4567@aol
alas- I am older than Barbie so I missed out on her- I noticed she lost weight over the years- our girls and g'daughters went through many Barbies- we still have a few in the play house-
ReplyDeletehugs from Meme
Oh my goodness! I loved Barbie. Still do, actually, which is why I carry a Barbie doll each Halloween and I dress her in an identical outfit as mine. People do a lot of double-takes and then they laugh in surprise. :)
ReplyDeleteI think as a young girl I had about 48 dolls, each with different names. My favorite was the one I named Vangie. Now I have about 10 dolls. I need that many for the different hair-dos for my Halloween dress up "costume" project. :)
Oh how we used to play for hours on end with our Barbies....we had them all! Ken, Midge, Alan, Skipper & Tuttie! My mom saved them all and my girls would pull out the "Barbie Box" when we went to visit and play for hours.
ReplyDeleteI still have my original Barbie & Ken tucked away in a shoe box.
Thanks for all the cool Barbie stories, Everyone! I loved reading them. Blessings, Debra
ReplyDelete