Barbie Girl

Originally posted 10/03/2005 8:26pm

Thinking about my brother playing barbies with me made me reflect on many happier times and how much I miss playing with my Barbie dolls.

I was not into baby dolls. Every birthday or Christmas, I'd inevitably receive some sort of doll that I was supposed to carry around, pretend to feed, pretend to diaper, dress, undress, and bathe. I had no real desire to do any of that. I'd humor whomever gave me the gift and would carry the doll around for a few days, love it and play "mommy" to it, but once the novelty wore off, the doll would end up in some toy chest forgotten until someone said, "Hey, Bevy, where's ?" and I'd have to go get the doll and feign joy at having to tote it around. (I guess that was my first sign I'd never have any real strong urge to procreate.)

My Barbie Dolls, however, were a different story. With Barbie, I was only limited by my imagination... and, trust me, I was pretty imaginative as a child. Barbie was fearless, independent, capable of doing anything, and totally fashionable no matter what she was doing. My Barbie was not content to just sit around and be Ken's trophy wife. My Barbie was a world-adventurer, a life-saver, a mother, a teacher, a doctor, a horseback rider, a racecar driver, a deep sea diver, a hiker, a camper, a chef, a model, a spy, a police officer.... Every day, she would wake up and be whatever I wanted her to be.

I had every Barbie you can think of. If a new Barbie came out, I had to have her. I even had the "rip off" versions that were sold in the discount stores and dollar stores and were made of hollow plastic and whose hair fell out the minute it got wet. I had a GI Joe. I had Little Skipper. I had this doll called Darci, who was a model. I had a Cher doll. I had the Hart family of dolls, which were granola-eating, sandal wearing, jeep driving dolls. I had Hispanic Barbie. I had African-American Barbie. I had the Barbie that blew kisses. I had the Ken who grew a beard. I had the Bionic Woman doll with faux skin you could roll up to see the "bionics" in her arm.

Barbie had an incredible social life and large extended family. Someone was always stopping by and asking her to do something. She was always on the go-- with or without Ken. Barbie waited for no one.

Once, GI JOE kidnapped Ken and took him to the mountains (the top bunk... shhh, don't tell my brother) and Barbie scaled the mountains and saved Ken. Once, Skipper fell into the pool (aka the bathtub) and Barbie jumped in fully clothed and saved her. Then, there was the time, a wild horse (a plastic pony) dragged Ken across the yard. Barbie wrapped him in bandages and saved his life. Barbie went hiking in the back yard. She went for rides in the basket of my bike. She dug holes in the back yard looking for hidden treasure. She went swimming in the ocean (the kitchen sink) and battled Jaws (a rubber shark.) She helped "Gary" (my brother's doll) build an addition on to his house. She WAS every woman.

When I grew up, I wanted to be Barbie. I didn't want to tote around a baby doll and take care of it. I wanted to be fearless, independent, able to do anything, and not answer to anyone but me.

I'd like to think that in some ways, Barbie was my role model and I don't think I'd disappoint her if we were to hang out. True, she'd probably fall over because her spine couldn't support her boobs, but that aside, Barbie was the epitome of the perfect woman to me.

When I was 12, my parents decided I was too old to be playing with dolls and put them away. I felt a little lost without my dolls. I lived vicariously through my dolls. I was able to plan for the future through my dolls. Whenever I had a dream or fear, I could work it out through my dolls. I'd think, "What would Barbie do?"

Later, I got a job teaching preschool and had some say in what kind of toys we could have in the classroom, but I had a very limited budget. After surveying the classroom, I went to the local dollar store and bought some "fashion dolls". This was right after the decline of 90210 and the dollar store had Brandon, Dylan, Kelly and Donna on sale very cheap. I bought one of each, along with some snazzy clothing. I took them into the classroom and encouraged the kids to have fun. My boss was impressed by how "hands on" I was with the kids.

I couldn't bring myself to tell her that the dolls were probably more for my benefit than theirs.

When I left the job, I left the dolls behind in hopes that some other little boy or girl will explore his/her creativity, imagination and independence through those dolls.

Thank you, Barbie, for helping make me who I am today.