Vintage Barbie and Ken dolls, early 1960's

I managed to nab this Ken doll at an estate sale a few years ago for practically nothing.

My Barbie doll has finally found her dream date!





I do miss that G.I. Joe, though.

Mystery Date

When one door closes, another opens. Will he be a dream? Or a dud?



When I was a little girl my Barbie doll's Mystery Date was always the same guy - a one-armed G.I. Joe. (A war injury, I suppose.) As pitiful as this Joe was, she couldn't even have him all to herself! She had to share with Midge and Francie, and Skipper too.

I've never had much luck with men, and neither did my Barbie.

When you were a kid, did you sleep with a rubber rat?

You know, I've always thought that I was a pretty typical little girl growing up...

I played Mommy with my baby dolls (oh, how I loved my dolls!) and then it was Mystery Date with Barbies and my brother's one-armed (he had an accident) G.I. Joe. I was a bookworm and had my nose buried in a book much of the time, but also had a bit of the tomboy and daredevil in me too. I remember riding my bicycle down the street near my school - with no hands, and eyes closed. Yes, I fell. But I was proud to show off my scuffed knees and elbows to my sibs, daring them to give it a try too.

Typical kid stuff.

But this morning I suddenly remembered The Rat.

When I was about 11 or 12 years old, I bought myself a black rubber rat with babysitting money. It had sort of a slick oily look to it, with a long winding tail and beady red eyes. Ugh...gives me the creeps thinking about it. But I slept with that thing! Its name was Oscar.

I'm not sure what I was trying to prove. I suppose I was at an age when I wanted to show that I wasn't a little girl anymore. (Little girls sleep with dolls, not rats.) Plus, growing up as daughter-number-three in a lineup of 7 girls and 2 boys, I think that I was continuously struggling to stand out in some way. I wanted to be unique. The rat made me eccentric, but that was fine too.

I'm not sleeping with rats anymore. (Or at least I try not to very often. :-) But I know that I've got a lot of that doll-loving, book-crazy, risk-taking, attention-craving girl still in me. As an adult, I think that it's important for me to look back often at who I was at 5 and 9 and 12 and ask: What did I like to do? What made me happy? What was I good at? And what did I dream of becoming when I grew up?

In this blog I'll be writing about my quest to become "the best version of myself." But I sometimes wonder if, in some ways, I might have been closer to that best version 40 years ago. Hmm... It's certainly an idea worth exploring.

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p.s. - In case you're wondering, I'm the little girl behind (and above) the sister in the white communion dress. (Click on the photo to enlarge.)

Just 5, but I look so cocky and sure of myself. I want her back!