Barbie World

Playing with Barbie Dolls was one of my favorite things to do when I was a kid. My sisters and I actually had a whole closet dedicated to these little ladies. The closet was right off our kitchen and occupied the space above the stairs to the basement of our house. The walls and floors were covered with carpet-remnants that my dad strategically placed into room and hallway segments. So, you can imaging that this 3-level loft was like a dream-haven for these dolls. And us kids.

My mom has told stories of us playing in that tiny confined space for hours and hours on end, day after day after day. 3 little kids, 1 hot light bulb, closed door, 87 barbies, and countless accessories. You can almost smell it, can't you?

Maddie has never exhibited signs of Barbie-love like I did at her age, but lately her and her BFF Clare (their words...not mine) have been playing like crazy. This is the sight that I came home to yesterday:


Me: Wow...what's all this?
Maddie: Clare and I are going to play Barbies again today.
Me: Cool. What's with the little papers and the dolls in such a, a...organized fashion?
Maddie: Oh that. I just gave them personalities.
Me: Personalities? Really?
Maddie: See - she's a doctor, she's a fashion designer, she works at McDonald's, this is her sister, she is really smart, she likes to read, her favorite color is green, she lives in Chicago...
Me: Personalities. Good idea. Hmmm...some of them look like they have really short hair
Maddie: Yeah. I thought they needed a makeover.


...and then we proceeded to have a little photo shoot.