No picture of the original Barbie here...out of respect for the copyright notice on the web site stating that it is copyrighted material!But that doesn't lessen the fact that I choose to celebrate the 50th "birthday" of an American icon. Yes, there are plenty of reasons to say otherwise...I have heard them all over the last 50 years.
I was seven, but I had to WAIT a WHOLE year until I was eight before she got to come live at my house. My birthday was only a few short weeks after hers so she was just one...and she was just a few months short of 50 when I laid her to rest...but that's a sad part of this story and this is day for happy stories!
I loved her. I didn't think she would ever be mine. My parents weren't much into "the latest and greatest" and turned deaf ears to such things as "EVERYBODY has one!"-type statements. At the time, she was hard to find and again, my parents not being super shoppers, well, it looked hopeless.
Now you have to understand...I was not a girly-girl. Anybody who knows me, can figure that pretty fast. I did lots of other things besides play dolls. I really don't remember the particular fascination with Barbie...even my mom didn't recall.
I DO remember the day however...only I didn't know at the time. All five of us were in the car driving from place to place and ended up at a drugstore ACROSS town one evening. My parents told my brothers and me to stay in the car...you could do that back in the 1950s. About 10 minutes later, they came out with a store sack...we didn't ask...we knew it would do no good. My parents were great parents...they just weren't free with information that they thought you didn't need to know!
About 3 days later, I turned 8. My party consisted of a group of 7 friends, my mom and me attending a ballet performance in our Sunday finest! It was grand and even more special because we got to stop afterwards and have ice cream sodas. That's when she was presented to me...in front of my friends...with her golden blode ponytail and back & white striped swimsuit. That began some of the greatest times I ever remember. The last time I actually remember playing with her was in the summer I was 13 with my summer friend. We would spend hours making up adventures and changing her clothes to fit the adventure!
You see, back then (at least in my circle) you had ONE doll and you shopped for clothes and accessories. We poured over the catalogs, saved our babysitting money, and put our choices on Christmas and birthday lists. And we NEVER messed with her hair!
When Barbie turned 25, I was back into the Barbie business but as the mother of two girls eventually! You bought all kinds of theme-Barbies that came with special outfits and accessories. My girls didn't have many extra outfits; they had big storage boxes of Barbies...all with messed up hair!
Things changed, but things stayed and continue to stay the same. Barbie is fun. Barbie is magic. Barbie is memories!
Happy 50th Birthday Barbie!
More stuff about Barbie and the celebration
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/6300277.html Barbie trivia quiz
1 comment:
hmmm your mom sounds a lot like MY mom! i guess it runs in the family!
she must have been a good teacher!
i like how they werent into the "latest and greatest" things...bc i remember we didnt get a dvd player until i was in college (and i think only bc the huge vcr broke and you finally had to give in)..and we never did the call waiting or caller id! haha at least you finally gave into the cell phone hoopla!
~d #2
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